Compliments  of 

The  Welby  Carter  Chapter  U.D.C. 
Upperville,  Virginia. 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER 
APPOMATTOX 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO    •  DALLAS 
ATLANTA    •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON    •   BOMBAY    •  CALCUTTA 
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THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


(JrKNKRAL    Ll-:i-'.S    L.\ST    PlCTLKK 

Made  by  Mr.  M.  Miley,  Lexington,  Va.,  in   1869  and  published  by  General 
Lee's  son,  Captain  Robert  K.  Lee  in  his  Recollections  and  Letters  of  General  Lee. 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE 
AFTER  APPOMATTOX 


EDITED  BY 

FRANKLIN  L.  RILEY 

PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY,  WASHINGTON  AND   LEE   UNIVERSITY 


fork 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


1922 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1922, 
BY   THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 


Set  up  and  printed.    Published  January,  1922 
G/f7     OJf     We.QU      •-''HflKK^ 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


THIS  MEMORIAL  VOLUME, 

ISSUED  FIFTY  YEARS  AFTER  THE  TERMINATION 
OF  THE  INCOMPARABLE  SERVICES  OF 

GENERAL  ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE 
AS  PRESIDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE, 
IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED  TO  THE 

"LEE  ALUMNI" 

BY 
THEIR  ALMA  MATER 


PUBLICATION   COMMITTEE 
OF    BOARD   OF    TRUSTEES: 

MR.  WILLIAM  A.  ANDERSON, 

DR.  E.  C.  GORDON, 

MR.  HARRINGTON  WADDELL. 


PREFACE 

SHORTLY  after  the  death  of  General  Robert  E. 
Lee  the  faculty  of  Washington  and  Lee  Uni 
versity  began  the  preparation  of  a  "Lee  Me 
morial  Volume,"  but  circumstances  "delayed  and 
finally  prevented  the  publication"  of  this  work.  The 
manuscripts  that  had  been  prepared  by  members 
of  the  faculty  and  other  papers  that  had  been  collected 
for  this  volume  were  turned  over  to  Dr.  J.  William 
Jones  and  incorporated  in  his  Personal  Reminiscences 
of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  which  was  published  in  1874.  Among 
the  "faculty  contributions"  to  that  volume  were  the 
valuable  sketches  by  Dr.  J.  L.  Kirkpatrick,  Profes 
sor  of  Moral  Science,  by  Dr.  Edward  S.  Joynes,  Profes 
sor  of  English,  and  by  Col.  William  Preston  Johnston, 
Professor  of  History. 

In  June,  1917,  the  trustees  of  the  university  decided 
to  collect  all  facts,  then  available,  on  General  Lee's 
connection  with  the  institution.  The  executive  com 
mittee  of  the  board  later  requested  the  professor  of 
history  of  the  university  to  undertake  this  work.  In 
carrying  out  his  commission  he  sent  appeals  to  all 
living  "Lee  Alumni,"  as  far  as  their  addresses  could  be 
obtained,  asking  for  every  item  of  information,  however 
small,  that  they  could  furnish,  relative  to  their  college 
days.  A  suggested  list  of  topics  was  also  sent  to  aid  the 


x  PREFACE 

alumni  in  determining  the  nature  and  scope  of  the  infor 
mation  desired. 

The  responses  to  these  appeals  were  hearty  and  gen 
erous,  though  it  was  impossible  to  overcome  the  handi 
cap  of  a  fifty  years'  delay  in  the  prosecution  of  the  work. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  contributions  obtained  in  this 
way  will  perhaps  be  the  last  to  be  had  from  this  source. 
They  constitute  a  large  part  of  the  contents  of  this 
volume.  Unfortunately,  many  alumni  of  this  unique 
period  had  passed  away  before  a  systematic  effort  was 
made  to  gather  and  preserve  their  reminiscences  for 
the  benefit  of  future  generations.  At  least  two  of  the 
contributors  to  this  volume,  Mr.  F.  A.  Berlin  and  Rev. 
Robert  H.  Fleming,  have  died  since  the  inauguration 
of  this  work.  In  the  course  of  a  few  more  years  the 
last  of  this  honored  group,  who  heard  the  voice  and 
observed  the  daily  movements  of  our  great  President, 
will  cease  to  bear  living  testimony  to  his  memory,  and 
the  record  will  be  closed. 

The  contents  of  this  volume  have  also  been  enriched 
by  the  reproduction  of  valuable  contributions  which 
have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  ephemeral  publica 
tions.  Documents  of  this  class  were  written  either 
by  members  of  General  Lee's  faculty  or  by  others  who 
came  in  personal  contact  with  him  after  the  war.  Two 
brief  extracts  have  been  taken  from  standard  biogra 
phies  of  General  Lee,  because  the  volumes  from  which 
they  were  taken  are  now  out  of  print. 

Although  the  incidents  and  impressions  here  given 
will  probably  not  alter  the  judgment  of  the  reading 


PREFACE  xi 

public  on  the  character  of  General  Lee,  they  will  af 
ford  something  more  than  corroborative  testimony  on 
the  subject.  They  will  explain,  in  part  at  least,  the 
methods  by  which  this  great  college  executive  in  the 
brief  period  of  five  years  achieved  results  that  would 
have  been  highly  creditable  to  the  full  life-effort  of  a 
successful  educator. 

FRANKLIN  L.  RILEY. 
Washington  and  Lee  University, 
October   12,   1920. 


CONTENTS 


Preface ix 

List  of  Illustrations xv 

How  General  Lee    Became    a    College  President.      By    Prof.    A.    L. 

Nelson I 

Why  General  Lee  Accepted  the  Presidency  of  Washington  College. 

By  Capt.  R.  E.  Lee 5 

Inauguration   of  General    Lee   as    President  of  Washington   College. 

By  Correspondent  of  the  New   York  Herald 1 2 

General  Lee  as  a  College  President.      By  Prof.  Edward  S.  Joynes 16 

General  Lee  at  Lexington.    By  Prof.  C.  A.  Graves 22 

Reminiscences   of  General  Lee  as  President  of  Washington  College. 

By  Prof.  M.  W.  Humphreys 32 

Recollections  of  General  Lee.    By  Mr.  F.  A.  Berlin 40 

Tribute  of  an  Appreciative  Student.    By  Mr.  W.  W.  Estill 49 

Reflections  of  a  Lee  Alumnus.     By  Judge  Robert  Ewing 54 

Reminiscences  of  General  Lee  and  Washington  College.     By  Richard 

W.  Rogers 59 

A  College  Boy's  Observation  of  General  Lee.     By  Mr.  John  B.  Collyar  65 

An  Incident  in  the  Life  of  General  R.  E.  Lee.     By  Mr.  ].  W.  Ewing. ...  69 
Recollections  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee's  Administration  As  President 

of  Washington  College.    By  Dr.  E.  C.  Gordon 75 

Brief  Statements  by  "LEE  ALUMNI:" 

Rev.  W.  Strother  Jones 106 

Mr.  Mike  G.  Harman 107 

Rev.  Frank  Bell  Webb 108 

Mr.  John  Blackmar 109 

Mr.  C.  W.  Hedger in 

Dr.  T.  H.  Somerville 112 

Rt.  Rev.  James  R.  Winchester 113 

Mr.  Hubbard  G.  Carlton 116 

Mr.  Graham  Robinson 117 

Rev.  Robert  H.  Fleming 1 18 

Rev.  William  Boyle 119 

Mr.  A.  H.  Hamilton 1 19 


xiv  CONTENTS 

Brief  Statements  by  "  LEE  ALUMNI  " — Continued.  PAGE 

Mr.  Jo  Lane  Stern 120 

Mr.  Willa  Viley 120 

Mr.  Albert  L.  Rees 121 

Supt.  J.  Parry  McCluer 122 

Mr.  James  H.  McCown 122 

Mr.  John  F.  Ponder 123 

Mr.  W.  H.  Tayloe 125 

Judge  D.  Gardiner  Tyler 128 

Mr.  Joseph  John  Allen 131 

Mr.  David  J.  Wilson 132 

Dr.  Chalmers  Deadrick 135 

Rev.  C.  C.  Brown 138 

President  Lee  and  the  Student.     By  Dr.  S.  Z.  Ammen 142 

Reminiscences  of  General  Lee.     By  Mr.  Edward  F.  Valentine 146 

What  General  Lee  Read  After  the  War.    By  Franklin  L.  Riley 157 

The  Christian  Character  of  Robert  E.  Lee.     By  Dr.  J.  William  Jones  182 

Tribute  to  General  Lee  as  a  Man.    By  Mr.  W.  A.  Anderson 196 

Tribute  to  General  Lee  as  an  Educator.     By  President  Henry  Lou's 

Smith 203 

Death  and  Funeral  of  General  Lee.    By  Col.  William  Preston  Johnston  206 

General  Lee's  Last  Office.     By  Dr.  J.  William  Jones 223 

The  Mausoleum  and  Recumbent  Statue.    By  Col.  William  Allan 226 

Appendix:  General  Lee's  Letter  to  Lord  Acton 237 

Index 243 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

General  Lee's  Last  Picture  (1869) Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

Reproduction  of  General  Lee's  Letter  of  Acceptance 8 

General  Lee's  Campus  Homes 

General  Lee's  Office  in  the  Chapel 24 

Rare  Pictures  of  General  Lee 78 

General  Lee  on  Traveller 

Last  Homes  of  General  Lee  and  Traveller 134 

General  Lee  during  the  War 146 

Exterior  View  of  Lee  Memorial  Chapel 

Interior  View  of  Lee  Memorial  Chapel 194 

Recumbent  Statue  of  General  Lee 

Mausoleum  beneath  the  Recumbent  Statue 224 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER 
APPOMATTOX 


HOW  LEE  BECAME  A  COLLEGE 
PRESIDENT 

By  PROF.  ALEXANDER  L.  NELSON 

This  sketch,  written  by  an  honored  and  appreciative  member  of  General 
Lee's  faculty,  is  taken  from  the  "Lee  Memorial  Number"  of  the  Wake 
Forest  Student,  a  magazine  published  in  January,  1907,  by  Wake  Forest 
College.  It  is  here  reproduced  because  it  is  deemed  worthy  of  permanent 
preservation. — Editor. 

WHEN  the  war  closed  Washington  College  was 
a  wreck,  but  the  board  of  trustees,  animated 
by  indomitable  Scotch-Irish  pluck,  deter 
mined  to  resuscitate  it.  It  was  announced  that  the 
board  would  meet  on  the  4th  day  of  August,  1 865.  The 
members  of  the  faculty  were  present  by  invitation,  as 
most  interested  spectators. 

Several  highly  respectable  gentleman  and  scholars 
were  placed  in  nomination  for  president  and  their  mer 
its  discussed. 

At  length  the  board  seemed  ready  to  take  the  vote. 

Just  then  Col.  Bolivar  Christian  arose  and  said,  in  a 
somewhat  hesitating  manner,  that  he  deemed  it  his 
duty  to  make  a  statement,  before  the  vote  was  taken, 
which  might  have  some  influence  on  the  election.  He 
then  said  that  a  lady  friend  of  his,  who  was  also  a 
friend  of  Miss  Mary  Lee,  daughter  of  General  Robert 
E.  Lee,  recently  told  him  that  Miss  Mary  Lee  had 
remarked  to  her  that  while  the  Southern  people  were 


2         GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

willing  and  ready  to  give  her  father  everything  that  he 
might  need,  no  offer  had  ever  been  made  him  by  which 
he  could  earn  a  living  for  himself  and  family. 

A  member  asked  Colonel  Christian  if  he  nominated 
General  Lee.  No,  he  replied,  he  would  not  do  that,  but 
he  merely  wanted  the  board  to  know  what  Miss  Mary 
Lee  had  said. 

Then  various  members  of  the  board  said  what  a  great 
thing  it  would  be  for  the  college  if  the  services  of  Gen 
eral  Lee  could  be  secured,  and  wondered  if  there  was 
any  chance  of  doing  so. 

At  length,  after  repeated  urging,  Colonel  Christian 
did  make  the  nomination.  All  other  names  were 
immediately  withdrawn  and  the  roll  was  called,  and 
General  Lee  was  unanimously  elected. 

Then  there  was  a  pause,  and  silence  prevailed  for 
some  moments.  The  board  seemed  oppressed  with  the 
gravity  of  the  situation,  and  seemed  to  feel  that  they 
had  acted  rashly.  How  could  they  announce  to  the 
world  that  they  had  elected  to  the  presidency  of  a 
broken-down  college  not  only  the  greatest  man  in  the 
South,  but  in  many  respects  the  greatest  man  in  the 
world?  And  yet  it  was  only  brave  men  who  could  seize 
an  opportunity  like  this.  "There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs 
of  men  which,  taken  at  its  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune." 

At  length  a  member  summoned  courage  to  say  that 
having  taken  that  step,  they  must  go  forward,  and  he 
moved  that  a  committee  of  five  members,  with  the 
rector,  be  appointed  to  draft  a  letter  to  General  Lee 
apprising  him  of  his  election  and  urging  his  acceptance. 


HOW  LEE  BECAME  A  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT  3 

Another  member  suggested  that  it  would  not  avail  to 
send  a  letter  through  the  mail,  but  that  it  must  be  con 
veyed  and  presented  by  a  personal  representative,  and 
that  there  was  no  one  so  well  qualified  for  that  mission 
as  the  rector. 

Judge  Brockenbrough,  the  rector,  was  a  large  man  of 
imposing  appearance,  of  courtly  manners,  a  good  talker 
and  an  eloquent  speaker.  He  had  been  federal  judge 
of  the  western  district  of  Virginia,  and  had  for  many 
years  conducted  a  flourishing  law  school  in  Lexington. 

The  judge  arose  at  once  and,  thanking  the  member 
for  his  kind  words,  said  that  he  could  not  go;  and 
glancing  down  at  his  well-worn  clothes,  said  he  could 
not  make  an  appearance  in  General  Lee's  presence 
dressed  as  he  was,  and  that  those  were  the  best  clothes 
he  had,  and  that  he  had  no  money  whatever  to  buy 
others. 

Mr.  Hugh  Barclay,  a  member  of  the  board,  who  also 
was  a  large  man,  replied  that  one  of  his  sons  who  lived 
in  the  North  had  sent  him  a  suit  of  broadcloth  which 
he  thought  would  fit  Judge  Brockenbrough  pretty  well 
and  that  if  he  would  wear  this  suit  he  would  be  welcome 
to  it.  The  judge  thanked  him,  but  said  there  was  still 
another  difficulty.  It  would  be  quite  a  journey  to 
Powhatan  county,  where  General  Lee  was  residing,  and 
would  necessitate  some  expense,  and  he  had  no  money 
and  the  college  had  none. 

Colonel  McLaughlin,  another  trustee,  who  was  ever 
alive  to  the  interests  of  the  college,  and  who  knew 
everything  that  occurred  in  town,  said  there  was  a  lady 


4         GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

living  in  Lexington  who  owned  a  farm  in  Buckingham 
county  and  who  had  recently  secured  the  money  for  a 
crop  of  tobacco,  and  that  the  college  could  borrow  some 
of  it. 

Judge  Brockenbrough,  thus  equipped  and  supplied, 
went  on  his  mission.  When  he  returned  he  reported 
that  General  Lee  was  willing  to  take  the  matter  under 
consideration. 

On  the  24th  of  August  General  Lee  wrote  that  he 
would  accept  the  office  of  President  of  Washington 
College  under  certain  conditions,  one  of  which  was  that 
he  could  not  undertake  to  give  instruction  to  classes 
but  could  only  undertake  general  supervision.  The 
conditions  imposed  were  readily  accepted  by  the  board 
and  the  announcement  of  General  Lee's  acceptance 
was  made  public. 

Money  was  borrowed  and  every  effort  made  to  place 
the  college  in  working  order.  On  the  1 8th  of  September, 
1865,  General  Lee  rode  into  town  on  "Traveller."* 

*In  writing  the  name  of  his  favorite  war  horse  General  Lee  always  fol 
lowed  the  English  spelling,  using  two  1's  instead  of  one. — Editor. 


WHY  GENERAL  LEE  ACCEPTED    THE  PRES 
IDENCY  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE 

By  CAPTAIN  ROBERT  E.  LEE 

The  following  extract  is  taken  from  Capt.  R.  E.  Lee's  Recollections  and 
Letters  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  pages  179-184.  Unfortunately,  this  valuable 
life  of  General  Lee  is  out  of  print. — Editor. 

A3OUT  this  time  my  father  received  from  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Washington  College  a 
notification  of  his  election  to  the  presidency  of 
that  institution,  at  a  meeting  of  the  board  held  in 
Lexington,  Virginia,  on  August  4,  1865.  The  letter 
apprising  him  of  the  action  was  presented  by  Judge 
John  W.  Brockenbrough,  rector  of  the  college.  This 
was  a  complete  surprise  to  my  father.  He  had  already 
been  offered  the  vice-chancellorship  of  the  "University 
of  the  South,"  at  Sewanee,  Tennessee,  but  declined  it 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  denominational,  and  to  some 
suggestions  that  he  should  connect  himself  with  the 
University  of  Virginia  he  objected  because  it  was  a 
state  institution.  * 

*  The  following  extract  from  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Wm.  A.  Anderson, 
present  rector  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  to  the  board  of  trustees 
under  date  of  June  17,  1901,  gives  additional  light  on  this  subject: 

"Informally,  but  none  the  less  positively  and  effectively,  the  active  inter 
est  of  Rev.  Dr.  and  Gen.  William  N.  Pendleton,  a  lifelong  personal  friend 


6         GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

Washington  College  had  started  as  an  academy  in 
1749.  It  was  tne  frrst  classical  school  opened  in  the 
Valley  of  Virginia.  After  a  struggle  of  many  years, 
under  a  succession  of  principals  and  with  several 
changes  of  site,  it  at  length  acquired  such  a  reputation 
as  to  attract  the  attention  of  General  Washington. 
He  gave  it  a  handsome  endowment,  and  the  institution 
changed  its  name  from  "Liberty  Hall  Academy"  to 
Washington  College.  In  the  summer  of  1865,  the  col 
lege,  through  the  calamities  of  civil  war,  had  reached 
the  lowest  point  of  depression  it  had  ever  known.  Its 
buildings,  library,  and  apparatus  had  suffered  from  the 
sack  and  plunder  of  hostile  soldiery.  Its  invested  funds, 
owing  to  the  general  inpoverishment  throughout  the 
land,  were  for  the  time  being  rendered  unproductive 
and  their  ultimate  value  was  most  uncertain.  Four 
professors  still  remained  on  duty,  and  there  were 
about  forty  students,  mainly  from  the  country  around 
Lexington.  It  was  not  a  state  institution,  nor  con 
fined  to  any  one  religious  denomination,  so  two  objec 
tions  which  might  have  been  made  by  my  father  were 
removed.  But  the  college  in  later  years  had  only  a 
local  reputation.  It  was  very  poor,  indifferently 

of  General  Lee,  a  member  of  his  military  staff  during  the  war,  and  a  minister 
of  the  same  religious  denomination,  was  at  the  instance  of  the  trustees,  who 
were  in  Lexington  at  the  time  of  General  Lee's  election,  enlisted  in  the  effort 
they  were  making  to  prevail  on  General  Lee  to  accept  the  presidency. 

"At  the  request  of  Prof.  James  J.  White,  who  acted  as  the  authorized 
representative  of  the  trustees,  General  Pendleton  wrote  to  General  Lee 
advising  his  acceptance  of  the  position  and  assuring  him,  as  he  had  been 
authorized  to  do  by  Prof.  White,  that  the  institution  would  in  the  future 
be  absolutely  undenominational." — Editor. 


WHY  GENERAL  LEE  ACCEPTED  PRESIDENCY  7 

equipped  with  buildings,  and  with  no  means  in  sight 
to  improve  its  condition.* 

"There  was  a  general  expectation  that  he  would 
decline  the  position  as  not  sufficiently  lucrative,  if  his 
purpose  was  to  repair  the  ruins  of  his  private  fortune 
resulting  from  the  war;  as  not  lifting  him  conspicuously 
enough  in  the  public  gaze,  if  he  was  ambitious  of  office 
or  further  distinction;  or  as  involving  too  great  labour 
and  anxiety,  if  he  coveted  repose  after  the  terrible 
contest  from  which  he  had  just  emerged."! 

He  was  very  reluctant  to  accept  this  appointment, 
but  for  none  of  the  above  reasons,  as  the  average  man 
might  have  been.  Why  he  was  doubtful  of  undertaking 
the  responsibilities  of  such  a  position  his  letter  of  accept 
ance  clearly  shows.  He  considered  the  matter  carefully 
and  then  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  committee: 

"Powhatan  County,  August  24,  1865. 

"Gentlemen:  I  have  delayed  for  some  days  replying  to  your 
letter  of  the  5th  inst.,  informing  me  of  my  election  by  the  board  of 
trustees  to  the  presidency  of  Washington  College,  from  a  desire  to 

*  The  poverty  of  the  institution  at  this  time  is  shown  by  the  following 
facts: 

In  their  report  to  the  trustees,  June  20,  1865,  the  faculty  said  that  the 
buildings  had  suffered  serious  damage  from  General  Hunter's  raid  and  that 
conditions  had  grown  worse  since  that  time,  "owing  to  the  want  of  material 
and  means  for  making  repairs,  and  partly  to  the  impossibility  of  closing 
them  against  the  depredations  of  mischievous  persons."  June  24,  1865, 
the  trustees  authorized  the  faculty  to  borrow  $500.00  for  repairs.  In 
February,  1866,  the  treasurer  of  the  college  was  authorized  to  have  shelves 
put  in  the  laboratory  for  minerals  "  provided  the  carpenter  would  agree  to 
wait  for  money  until  the  opening  of  the  next  session."  See  MS.  Faculty 
Records  under  dates  given. — Editor. 

t  Professor  E.  S.  Joynes. 


8    GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

give  the  subject  due  consideration.  Fully  impressed  with  the 
responsibilities  of  the  office,  I  have  feared  that  I  should  be  unable 
to  discharge  its  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  trustees  or  to  the 
benefit  of  the  country.  The  proper  education  of  youth  requires  not 
only  great  ability,  but  I  fear  more  strength  than  I  now  possess,  for  I 
do  not  feel  able  to  undergo  the  labour  of  conducting  classes  in 
regular  courses  of  instruction.  I  could  not,  therefore,  undertake 
more  than  the  general  administration  and  supervision  of  the  insti 
tution.  There  is  another  subject  which  has  caused  me  serious 
reflection,  and  is,  I  think,  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the  board. 
Being  excluded  from  the  terms  of  amnesty  in  the  proclamation  of 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  of  the  29th  of  May  last,  and  an 
object  of  censure  to  a  portion  of  the  country,  I  have  thought  it 
probable  that  my  occupation  of  the  position  of  president  might 
draw  upon  the  college  a  feeling  of  hostility;  and  I  should,  therefore, 
cause  injury  to  an  institution  which  it  would  be  my  highest  desire 
to  advance.  I  think  it  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  country,  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  aid  in  the  restora 
tion  of  peace  and  harmony  and  in  no  way  to  oppose  the  policy  of  the 
State  or  general  government  directed  to  that  object.  It  is  particu 
larly  incumbent  on  those  charged  with  the  instruction  of  the  young 
to  set  them  an  example  of  submission  to  authority,  and  I  could  not 
consent  to  be  the  cause  of  animadversion  upon  the  college.  Should 
you,  however,  take  a  different  view,  and  think  that  my  services  in 
the  position  tendered  to  me  by  the  board  will  be  advantageous  to 
the  college  and  country,  I  will  yield  to  your  judgment  and  accept  it; 
otherwise,  I  must  most  respectfully  decline  the  office.  Begging 
you  to  express  to  the  trustees  of  the  college  my  heartfelt  gratitude 
for  the  honour  conferred  upon  me,  and  requesting  you  to  accept  my 
cordial  thanks  for  the  kind  manner  in  which  you  have  communicated 
their  decision,  I  am,  gentlemen,  with  great  respect,  your  most 
obedient  servant, 

R.  E.  LEE."  * 

To  present  a  clearer  view  of  some  of  the  motives 
influencing  my  father  in  accepting  this  trust — for  such 
he  considered  it — I  give  an  extract  from  an  address  on 

*  By  comparing  this  document  with  the  photographic  reproduction  of 
the  original  the  reader  will  note  that  Captain  Lee  made  some  slight  changes 
in  capital  letters,  of  which  his  father  made  liberal  use,  following  the  custom 
of  his  day. — Editor. 


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notice  of  election  to  the  presidency  of  Washington  College. 


WHY  GENERAL  LEE  ACCEPTED  PRESIDENCY  9 

the  occasion  of  his  death,  by  Bishop  Wilmer,  of  Louis 
iana,  delivered  at  the  University  of  the  South,  at  Se- 
wanee,  Tennessee: 

"I  was  seated,"  says  Bishop  Wilmer,  "at  the  close  of  the  day, 
in  my  Virginia  home,  when  I  beheld,  through  the  thickening  shades 
of  evening,  a  horseman  entering  the  yard,  whom  I  soon  recognised 
as  General  Lee.  The  next  morning  he  placed  in  my  hands  the 
correspondence  with  the  authorities  of  Washington  College  at  Lex 
ington.  He  had  been  invited  to  become  president  of  that  institu 
tion.  I  confess  to  a  momentary  feeling  of  chagrin  at  the  proposed 
change  (shall  I  say  revulsion?)  in  his  history.  The  institution 
was  one  of  local  interest,  and  comparatively  unknown  to  our  people. 
I  named  others  more  conspicuous  which  would  welcome  him  with 
ardour  as  their  presiding  head.  I  soon  discovered  that  his  mind 
towered  above  these  earthly  distinctions;  that,  in  his  judgment,  the 
cause  gave  dignity  to  the  institution,  and  not  the  wealth  of  its 
endowment  or  the  renown  of  its  scholars;  that  this  door  and  not 
another  was  opened  to  him  by  Providence,  and  he  only  wished  to 
be  assured  of  his  competency  to  fulfil  his  trust  and  thus  to  make 
his  few  remaining  years  a  comfort  and  blessing  to  his  suffering 
country.  I  had  spoken  to  his  human  feelings;  he  had  now  revealed 
himself  to  me  as  one  'whose  life  was  hid  with  Christ  in  God/  My 
speech  was  no  longer  restrained.  I  congratulated  him  that  his  heart 
was  inclined  to  this  great  cause,  and  that  he  was  spared  to  give  to 
the  world  this  august  testimony  to  the  importance  of  Christian 
education.  How  he  listened  to  my  feeble  words;  how  he  beckoned 
me  to  his  side,  as  the  fulness  of  heart  found  utterance;  how  his 
whole  countenance  glowed  with  animation  as  I  spoke  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  as  the  great  Teacher,  whose  presence  was  required  to  make 
education  a  blessing,  which  otherwise  might  be  the  curse  of  man 
kind;  how  feelingly  he  responded,  how  eloquently,  as  I  never  heard 
him  speak  before, — can  never  be  effaced  from  memory;  and 
nothing  more  sacred  mingles  with  my  reminiscences  of  the  dead." 

The  board  of  trustees,  on  August  31,  adopted  and 
sent  to  General  Lee  resolutions  saying  that,  in  spite  of 
his  objections,  "his  connection  with  the  institution 
would  greatly  promote  its  prosperity  and  advance  the 


10      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

general  interest  of  education,  and  urged  him  to  enter 
upon  his  duties  as  president  at  his  earliest  convenience. " 

My  father  had  had  nearly  four  years'  experience  in 
the  charge  of  young  men  at  West  Point.  The  condi 
tions  at  that  place,  to  be  sure,  were  very  different  from 
those  at  the  one  to  which  he  was  now  going,  but  the 
work  in  the  main  was  the  same — to  train,  improve  and 
elevate.  I  think  he  was  influenced,  in  making  up  his 
mind  to  accept  this  position,  by  the  great  need  of  educa 
tion  in  his  State  and  in  the  South,  and  by  the  opportu 
nity  that  he  saw  at  Washington  College  for  starting 
almost  from  the  beginning,  and  for  helping,  by  his 
experience  and  example,  the  youth  of  his  country  to 
become  good  and  useful  citizens. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September,  he  mounted  Travel 
ler  and  started  alone  for  Lexington.  He  was  four  days 
on  the  journey,  stopping  with  some  friend  each  night. 
He  rode  into  Lexington  on  the  afternoon  of  the  fourth 
day,  no  one  knowing  of  his  coming  until  he  quietly  drew 
up  and  dismounted  at  the  village  inn.  Professor  White, 
who  had  just  turned  into  the  main  street  as  the  General 
halted  in  front  of  the  hotel,  said  he  knew  in  a  moment 
that  this  stately  rider  on  the  iron-gray  charger  must  be 
General  Lee.  He,  therefore,  at  once  went  forward,  as 
two  or  three  old  soldiers  gathered  around  to  help  the 
General  down,  and  insisted  on  taking  him  to  the  home 
of  Colonel  Reid,  the  professor's  father-in-law,  where  he 
had  already  been  invited  to  stay.  My  father,  with  his 
usual  consideration  for  others,  as  it  was  late  in  the 
afternoon,  had  determined  to  remain  at  the  hotel  that 


WHY  GENERAL  LEE  ACCEPTED  PRESIDENCY          II 

night  and  go  to  Mr.  Reid's  in  the  morning;  but  yielding 
to  Captain  White's  (he  always  called  him  "Captain," 
his  Confederate  title)  assurances  that  all  was  ready  for 
him,  he  accompanied  him  to  the  home  of  his  kind  host. 


INAUGURATION  OF  GENERAL  LEE,  AS  PRES 
IDENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE 

By  CORRESPONDENT  of  the  New  York  Herald 

The  following  account  of  the  simple  exercises  inducting  General  Robert  E. 
Lee  into  the  presidency  of  Washington  College,  October  2,  1865,  was  sent 
to  the  New  York  Herald  by  a  staff  correspondent  and  the  story  was  repub- 
lished  in  the  Lexington  Gazette  of  October  n,  1865. — Editor. 

GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  was  to-day  in 
stalled  president  of  Washington  College. 
There  was  no  pomp  of  parade.  The  exercises 
of  installation  were  the  simplest  possible — an  exact  and 
barren  compliance  with  the  required  formula  of  taking 
the  oath  by  the  new  President,  and  nothing  more — was 
in  accordance  with  the  special  request  of  General  Lee. 
It  was  proposed  to  have  the  installation  take  place  in 
the  college  chapel,  to  send  invitations  far  and  wide,  to 
have  a  band  of  music  to  play  enlivening  airs,  to  have 
young  girls,  robed  in  white  and  bearing  chaplets  of 
flowers,  to  sing  songs  of  welcome;  to  have  congratula 
tory  speeches,  to  make  it  a  grand  holiday.  That  the 
proposed  program  was  not  carried  out  was  a  source  of 
severe  disappointment  to  many.  But  General  Lee 
had  expressed  his  wishes  contrary  to  the  choice  and 
determination  of  the  college  trustees  and  the  multitude, 
and  his  wishes  were  complied  with. 


INAUGURATION  OF  GENERAL  LEE  13 

The  installation  took  place  at  9  A.  M.  in  a  recitation 
room  of  the  college.  In  this  room  were  seated  the 
faculty  and  students,  the  ministers  of  the  town  churches, 
a  magistrate  and  the  county  clerk,  the  last  two  officials 
being  necessary  to  the  ceremonial.  General  Lee  was 
inducted  into  the  room  by  the  board  of  trustees.  At  his 
entrance  and  introduction  all  in  the  room  arose,  bowed 
and  then  became  seated.  Prayer  by  Rev.  Dr.  White, 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  directly  followed. 
To  me  it  was  a  noticeable  fact,  and  perhaps  worthy  of 
record,  that  he  prayed  for  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  Altogether  it  was  a  most  fitting  and  impressive 
prayer. 

BRIEF  EULOGY  UPON  GENERAL  LEE 

The  prayer  ended,  Judge  Brockenbrough,  chairman 
of  the  board  of  trustees,  stated  the  object  of  their 
coming  together,  to  install  General  Lee  as  President  of 
Washington  College.  He  felt  the  serious  dignity  of  the 
occasion,  but  it  was  a  seriousness  and  a  dignity  that 
should  be  mingled  with  heartfelt  joy  and  gladness. 
Passing  a  brief  eulogy  upon  General  Lee,  and  congratu 
lating  the  board  and  the  college  and  its  present  and 
future  students,  on  having  obtained  one  so  loved  and 
great  and  worthy  to  preside  over  the  college,  he  said  he 
could  say  more  had  it  not  been  voted  against  speech- 
making.  During  the  delivery  of  these  few  words — and 
they  came,  despite  the  prohibitory  voting,  very  near 
culminating  to  the  dignity  of  a  set  as  well  as  eloquent 
speech,  General  Lee  remained  standing,  his  arms 


14       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

quietly  folded  and  calmly  and  steadfastly  looking  into 
the  eyes  of  the  speaker.  Justice  William  White,  at  the 
instance  of  Judge  Brockenbrough,  now  administered 
the  oath  of  office  to  General  Lee.  For  the  benefit  of 
those  curious  to  know  the  nature  of  this  new  oath  to 
which  General  Lee  has  just  subscribed,  and  as  it  is 
brief,  I  give  it  entire.  It  is  as  follows: 

"I  do  swear  that  I  will,  to  the  best  of  my  skill  and 
judgment,  faithfully  and  truly  discharge  the  duties 
required  of  me  by  an  act  entitled,  'An  act  for  incorpo 
rating  the  rector  and  trustees  of  Liberty  Hall  Academy/ 
without  favor,  affection  or  partiality.  So  help  me 
God." 

To  this  oath  General  Lee  at  once  affixed  his  signature, 
with  the  accompanying  usual  juriat  of  the  swearing 
magistrate  appended.  The  document,  in  the  form 
stated,  was  handed  to  the  county  clerk  for  safe  and 
perpetual  custodianship,  and  at  the  same  time  the  keys 
of  the  college  were  given  by  the  rector  into  the  keeping 
of  the  new  president.  A  congratulatory  shaking  of 
hands  followed  and  wound  up  the  day's  brief  but  pleas 
ing  and  memorable  ceremonial.  President  Lee  and  the 
trustees,  with  the  faculty,  now  passed  into  the  room  set 
apart  for  the  former's  use — a  good-sized  room,  newly 
but  very  plainly  and  tastefully  furnished. 

General  Lee  was  dressed  in  a  plain  but  elegant  suit 
of  gray.  His  appearance  indicated  the  enjoyment  of 
good  health — better,  I  should  say,  than  when  he  sur 
rendered  his  army  at  Appomattox  Court  House,  the 
first  and  only  occasion  before  the  present  of  my  having 


INAUGURATION  OF  GENERAL  LEE  15 

seen  him.  His  looks  and  bearing  have  been  often  and 
minutely  described,  and  I  will  not  dwell  upon  them  here. 
Most  pictures  of  him  on  exhibition  come  up  to  the 
average  of  fidelity  of  this  class  of  likenesses. 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AS  COLLEGE 
PRESIDENT 

By  PROFESSOR  EDWARD  S.  JOYNES 

The  following  article  was  taken  from  the  Southern  Historical  Society 
Papers,  XXVIII,  243-246,  and  first  appeared  in  the  Richmond,  Va.,  Dis 
patch,  January  27,  1901.  It  was  not  intended  by  the  writer,  Professor 
Edward  S.  Joynes,  as  a  formal  contribution,  but  was  part  of  a  letter  to  a 
friend.  His  more  formal  and  elaborate  contribution  on  this  subject  will 
be  found  in  Joynes'  Personal  Reminiscences  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  118- 
129.  Professor  Joynes  held  the  chair  of  Modern  Languages  at  Washington 
College  while  General  Lee  was  president  and  later  held  the  same  position 
at  the  University  of  South  Carolina.  He  died  June  18,  1917. — Editor. 

MY  recollections  shall  be  chiefly  of  General  Lee 
as  college  president.  It  is  as  such  that  he  is 
chiefly  present  to  my  memory — always  for 
admiration,  sometimes  for  contrast  with  later  expe 
riences.  I  will  not  enlarge  upon  the  quiet  dignity  and 
patience  with  which  he  always  presided  over  our  often 
wordy  and  tedious  meetings,  his  perfect  impartiality, 
and  unwearied  courtesy,  his  manifest  effort  to  sink  his 
own  personality,  as  if  to  minimize  the  influence  which 
he  knew  attached  to  his  own  views,  and  to  leave  to  the 
faculty  as  a  body,  and  to  each  member  of  it,  the  fullest 
sense  of  authority  and  independence. 

Indeed,  nowhere  else  in  all  my  wide  experience  have 
I  found  so  much  of  personal  dignity  and  influence 
attached  to  the  professorship  as  at  Lexington;  and  this 
was  largely  due  to  the  courtesy  and  deference  with 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT    17 

which  General  Lee  treated  the  faculty,  and  every  mem 
ber  of  it,  in  both  official  and  private  relations.  Yet 
none  the  less,  on  those  rare  occasions  when  it  became 
necessary,  did  he  assert  the  full  measure  of  his  author 
ity.  He  rarely  spoke  in  faculty  meetings,  and  then 
only  at  the  close  of  debate — usually  to  restate  the 
question  at  issue,  seldom  with  any  decided  expression 
of  his  own  opinion  or  wish. 

I  remember  on  one  ocasion  a  professor  quoted  a  cer 
tain  regulation  in  the  by-laws.  Another  replied  that  it 
had  become  a  dead  letter.  "Then,"  said  General  Lee, 
"let  it  be  repealed.  A  dead  letter  inspires  disrespect 
for  the  whole  body  of  laws." 

On  another  occasion  a  professor  appealed  to  prece 
dent,  and  added,  "We  must  not  respect  persons." 
General  Lee  at  once  replied:  "In  dealing  with  young 
men  I  always  respect  persons,  and  care  little  for  prece 
dent." 

When  General  Lee  became  President  of  Washington 
College  it  had  been  required  that  students  should  oc 
cupy  the  college  dormitories;  only  a  few  of  the  older 
students  were  permitted  to  lodge  in  town.  General  Lee 
reversed  this  rule.  As  a  measure  of  discipline  it  was 
required  that  all  students  board  and  lodge  in  the  fam 
ilies  of  the  town;  to  lodge  in  the  dormitory  was  accorded 
as  a  privilege.  He  said  the  young  boys  needed  the  in 
fluence  of  family  life;  the  dormitories  he  regarded  as 
offering  temptations  to  license.  The  result  vindicated 
the  wisdom  of  his  view. 

In  dealing  with  the  young  men  General  Lee  had  a 


1 8       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

truly  marvelous  success.  The  students  fairly  wor 
shipped  him,  and  deeply  dreaded  his  displeasure;  yet  so 
kind,  affable,  and  gentle  was  he  toward  them  that  all 
loved  to  approach  him.  Still,  an  official  summons  to 
his  office  struck  terror  even  into  the  most  hardened. 

A  young  fellow,  whose  general  record  was  none  too 
good,  was  summoned  to  answer  for  absence.  He  stated 
his  excuse,  and  then,  hesitatingly,  he  added  another  and 

another.  "Stop,  Mr. ,"  said  General  Lee,  "one 

good  reason  should  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  an  honest 
mind,"  with  emphasis  on  the  word  "honest,"  that 
spoke  volumes. 

Another,  an  excellent  student,  now  a  distinguished 
lawyer  in  Tennessee,  was  once  beguiled  into  an  un- 
excused  absence.  The  dreaded  summons  came.  With 
his  heart  in  his  boots  he  entered  General  Lee's  office. 
The  General  met  him  smiling:  "Mr.  M.,  I  am  glad  to 
see  you  are  better."  "But  General,  I  have  not  been 
sick."  "Then  I  am  glad  to  see  you  have  better  news 
from  home."  "But,  General,  I  have  had  no  bad  news." 
"Ah,"  said  the  General,  "I  took  it  for  granted  that 
nothing  less  than  sickness  or  distressing  news  from 
home  could  have  kept  you  from  your  duty."  Mr.  M. 
told  me,  in  relating  the  incident,  that  he  then  felt  as  if 
he  wished  the  earth  would  open  and  swallow  him. 

To  a  recalcitrant  student,  who  was  contending  for 
what  he  thought  his  rights  as  a  man,  I  once  heard 
General  Lee  say:  "Obedience  to  lawful  authority  is  the 
foundation  of  manly  character," — in  those  very  words. 

On  rare  occasions  of  disorder,  actual  or  threatened, 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT    19 

General  Lee  would  post  a  manuscript  address  to  students 
on  the  bulletin  board.  These  were  known  among  the 
boys  as  his  "General  Orders/'  They  never  failed  of 
their  effect.  No  student  would  have  dared  to  violate 
General  Lee's  expressed  wish  or  appeal — if  he  had  done 
so  the  students  themselves  would  have  driven  him  from 
the  college. 

I  wish  to  add  one  other  important  fact,  illustrating 
General  Lee's  view  of  discipline,  in  a  case  of  frequent 
occurrence.  He  held  idleness  to  be  not  negative,  but 
a  positive  vice.  It  often  happened  that  the  plea  was 
made  that  an  idle  student  was  doing  no  harm  and 
indirectly  deriving  benefit,  etc.  General  Lee  said,  "No, 
a  young  man  is  always  doing  something;  if  not  good 
then  harm  to  himself  and  others."  So  that  merely 
persistent  idleness  was  with  him  always  sufficient  cause 
for  dismissal. 

General  Lee's  ideal  of  education  was  the  training  of 
manly  character,  and  that,  for  him,  meant  Christian 
character.  To  a  venerable  minister  of  Lexington  he 
said:  "I  shall  be  disappointed,  sir — I  shall  fail  in  the 
leading  object  that  brought  me  here — unless  these 
young  men  all  become  consistent  Christians."  When 
he  came  to  Lexington  the  old  president's  house  was  in 
a  sadly  dilapidated  condition.  The  trustees  desired  to 
build  at  once  a  suitable  home  for  the  president's  resi 
dence.  But  General  Lee  insisted  that  the  first  money 
collected  should  be  devoted  to  building  a  chapel,  and  he 
would  not  allow  the  president's  house  to  be  begun  until 
the  chapel  had  been  completed  and  furnished — that 


20       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

chapel  beneath  which  now  rests  his  own  beautiful 
mausoleum.  Here  daily  religious  services  were  held  at 
an  early  hour  by  the  ministers  of  Lexington  in  rotation 
— but  not  on  Sunday,  for  General  Lee  preferred  that  the 
students  should  go  to  the  church  of  their  parents  in 
the  town. 

General  Lee  had  very  well  defined  opinions  on  educa 
tional  subjects.  In  quoting  some  of  these  it  might, 
perhaps,  be  unjust  to  apply  them  to  present  conditions, 
which,  of  course,  could  not  then  be  foreseen.  He  was  a 
strong  advocate  of  practical,  even  technical  education, 
as  was  shown  by  his  plans  for  Washington  College;  but 
he  was  equally  firm  in  his  support  of  training  studies  and 
liberal  culture.  I  have  often  heard  him  say  it  had  been 
his  lifelong  regret  that  he  had  not  completed  his  classical 
education  (in  which,  however,  he  had  a  respectable 
scholarship)  before  going  to  West  Point.  Also,  he  did 
not  believe  in  separate  technical  schools,  but  thought 
"that  scientific  and  professional  studies  could  best  be 
taught  when  surrounded  by  the  liberalizing  influence  of 
a  literary  institution."  Hence,  he  sought  to  unite  all 
these  in  the  development  of  Washington  College. 

Especially,  General  Lee  did  not  believe  in  a  military 
education  for  others  than  army  officers.  Military  edu 
cation,  he  used  to  say,  is  an  unfortunate  necessity  for 
the  soldier,  but  the  worst  possible  preparation  for  civil 
life.  "For  many  years,"  he  said,  "I  have  observed 
the  failure  in  business  pursuits  of  men  who  have  re 
signed  from  the  army.  It  is  very  rare  that  any  one  of 
them  has  achieved  success." 


GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AS  COLLEGE  PRESIDENT     21 

One  incident  finally,  which  I  witnessed,  illustrates 
the  General's  playful  humor.  A  new  roadway  of  broken 
stone  had  just  been  laid  through  the  college  grounds. 
Colonel  J.  T.  L.  Preston,  then  professor  in  the  Military 
Institute,  came  riding  through  on  his  way  to  town.  As 
the  stones  were  new  and  rough,  the  Colonel  rode  along 
side  on  the  grass.  As  he  approached  where  the  General 
was  standing,  he  halted  for  a  talk.  General  Lee,  putting 
his  arm  affectionately  around  the  horse's  neck  and  pat 
ting  him,  said:  "Colonel,  this  is  a  beautiful  horse;  I  am 
sorry  he  is  so  tenderfooted  that  he  avoids  our  new  road." 
Afterwards  Colonel  Preston  always  rode  on  the  stone- 
way. 


GENERAL  LEE  AT  LEXINGTON 

By  PROFESSOR  C.  A.  GRAVES,  UNIVERSITY,  VIRGINIA 

This  interesting  address  was  delivered  at  the  centennial  celebration  of 
General  Lee's  birth,  held  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  January  19,  1907. 
It  was  published  in  the  University  of  Virginia  Bulletin  of  April,  1907. — 
Editor. 

ON  August  4th,  1865,  the  trustees  of  Washing 
ton  College,  Lexington,  Va.,  elected  General 
Robert  E.  Lee  president  of  the  institution. 
On  August  24,  from  his  temporary  home  in  Powhatan 
county,  General  Lee  accepted  the  office,  and  on  Sep 
tember  1 8  he  rode  into  Lexington  on  his  famous  war 
horse  "Traveller." 

On  October  joth,  1865,  General  Lee  wrote:  "I  ac 
cepted  the  presidency  of  the  college  in  the  hope  that  I 
might  be  of  some  service  to  the  country  and  to  the  rising 
generation;  and  not  from  any  preference  of  my  own. 
I  should  have  selected  a  more  quiet  life  and  a  more 
retired  abode  than  Lexington,  and  should  have  pre 
ferred  a  small  farm  where  I  could  have  earned  my  daily 
bread." 

The  town  of  Lexington  during  General  Lee's  presi 
dency  of  Washington  College  was  a  congenial  home  for 
the  great  chieftain  of  the  "Lost  Cause,"  and  was  not 
inaptly  called  the  "Headquarters  of  the  Southern  Con 
federacy."  Here  had  been  the  home  of  Stonewall 
Jackson,  and  here  was  his  tomb;  here  resided,  when 


GENERAL  LEE  AT  LEXINGTON  23 

General  Lee  arrived,  Hon.  John  Letcher,  the  strong  and 
resolute  war  governor  of  Virginia;  General  Francis  H. 
Smith,  the  founder  and  superintendent  of  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  the  "West  Point  of  the  South"; 
General  William  N.  Pendleton,  chief  of  artillery  of  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia;  and  Judge  John  W.  Brock- 
enbrough,  one  of  the  five  commissioners  whom  Virginia 
sent  to  the  peace  conference  which  met  in  Washington 
in  February,  1861.  And  to  Lexington  there  came  later 
during  General  Lee's  life  Colonel  William  Preston  John 
ston,  son  of  General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston;  Colonel 
William  Allan,  chief  ordnance  officer  of  Jackson's  corps; 
Commodore  Matthew  F.  Maury,  the  geographer  of  the 
sea,  who,  next,  perhaps,  to  General  Lee,  sacrificed 
most  in  order  to  share  the  fate  of  his  people;  Colonel 
John  M.  Brooke,  of  "deep  sea  sounding"  and  "Merri- 
mac"  fame;  and  shortly  before  General  Lee's  death, 
there  came  the  profound  lawyer  and  statesman,  Hon. 
John  Randolph  Tucker,  who  had  been  attorney-general 
of  Virginia  throughout  the  war. 

The  faculty  of  Washington  College  before  General 
Lee's  accession  to  the  presidency,  had  consisted  of  five 
men,  the  president,  who  taught  moral  philosophy,  and 
four  professors,  teaching  Latin,  Greek,  mathematics,  and 
chemistry  and  natural  philosophy.  The  number  of 
students  had  been  less  than  one  hundred.  During  the 
five  years  of  General  Lee's  presidency  the  number  of 
professors  was  more  than  trebled;  the  number  of  stu 
dents  was  quadrupled,  and  the  endowment  of  the  institu 
tion  was  increased  many  fold.  He  found  it  a  college, 


24      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

and  left  it  a  university,  worthy  of  the  proud  title  which 
links  the  names  of  Washington  and  Lee. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  General  Lee's  first  home 
in  Lexington  had  once  been  the  home  of  Stonewall 
Jackson.  This  was  the  "Old  President's  House,"  in 
which  General  Lee  lived  for  several  years  until  the 
present  "President's  House,"  was  erected.  In  the 
"Old  President's  House"  had  resided  before  the  war  the 
then  president,  Dr.  George  Junkin,  whose  daughter  was 
General  Jackson's  first  wife.  And  in  this  house  General 
Jackson,  both  before  and  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  had 
resided  as  an  inmate  of  his  father-in-law's  family. 

But  whether  in  the  old  or  new  house,  the  home  of 
General  Lee  was  always  open  to  the  students;  and  what 
ever  awe  "the  President"  may  have  inspired,  Mrs.  Lee 
and  her  accomplished  daughters  were  able  to  make  even 
the  most  diffident  forget  their  embarrassment.  General 
G.  W.  Custis  Lee,  at  that  time  professor  in  the  Virginia 
Military  Institute,  was  also  an  inmate  of  his  father's 
family.  He  had  the  reputation  among  the  students  of 
the  college  (whose  president  he  was  destined  to  become) 
of  being  the  most  courteous  of  gentlemen,  and  the  most 
brilliant  of  mathematicians. 

And  now  it  may  be  proper  to  describe  briefly  some 
characteristics  of  General  Lee  as  a  college  president, 
especially  in  relation  to  the  students. 

i.  Religion. — There  was  one  place  where  General 
Lee  could  always  be  seen  and  that  was  at  the  daily 
prayer  service  in  the  college  chapel.  Compulsory  ar- 
tendance,  however,  was  abolished  by  him  after  the  first 


GENERAL  LEE'S  CAMPUS  HOMES  AT  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE 
\  he  building  to  the   right   was  occupied   by  the   Lee   family   until  the  com 
pletion  of  the  President's  home,  which  is  the  large  building  in  the  foreground. 

GENERAL  LEE'S  OFFICE  IN  THE  CHAPEL 
1  he  furnishings,  papers  and   books  still  remain  as  he  left  them. 


GENERAL  LEE  AT  LEXINGTON  2$ 

year  of  his  presidency.  He  took  a  deep  interest  in  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  and  an  account  of 
its  work,  as  a  matter  of  great  importance,  always  came 
first  in  his  annual  report  to  the  board  of  trustees.  On 
one  occasion  he  said:  "If  I  could  only  know  that  all  the 
young  men  in  the  college  were  good  Christians  I  should 
have  nothing  more  to  desire.  I  dread  the  thought  of 
any  student  going  away  from  the  college  without  becom 
ing  a  sincere  Christian. " 

2.  Work. — General  Lee  could  not  tolerate  idleness. 
He  believed  that  a  student  who  did  not  work  did  harm 
both  to  himself  and  to  others.    He  thought  the  place  for 
drones  was  at  home,  and  he  did  not  excuse  them  on  the 
plea  that  they  were  "good  fellows."    His  views  with 
reference  to  a  student  of  this  class  were  once  expressed 
as  follows:  "He  is  a  very  quiet,  orderly  young  man,  but 
seems  very  careful  not  to  injure  the  health  of  his  father's 
son.    Now,  I  do  not  want  our  young  men  really  to  injure 
their  health,  but  I  wish  them  to  come  as  near  to  it  as 
possible. " 

3.  Total  abstinence. — On  this  subject  extracts  from 
two  letters  will  suffice.    To  an  organization  among  the 
students  called  "Friends  of  Temperance, "  General  Lee 
wrote:  "My  experience  through  life  has  convinced  me 
that,  while  moderation  and  temperance  in  all  things  are 
commendable  and  beneficial,  abstinence  from  spirituous 
liquor  is  the  best  safeguard  of  morals  and  health." 
And  from  Arlington,  on  May  30,  1858,  he  wrote  to  his 
son:  "I  think  it  better  to  avoid  it  (spirituous  liquor) 
altogether,  as  its  temperate  use  is  so  difficult." 


26       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

4.  Literary  Societies. — In  these  days,  when  so  many 
neglect  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  debating  society, 
these  words  of  General  Lee  are  timely:  "There  is 
scarcely  a  feature  in  the  organization  of  the  college 
more  improving  and  beneficial  to  the  students  than  the 
exercises  and  influence  of  the  literary  societies;  and  the 
good  they  do  renders  them  worthy  of  encouragement  by 
the  friends  of  education. " 

I  may  add  that  the  only  address  I  ever  heard  General 
Lee  make  (aside  from  informal  remarks  while  he  was 
presiding  at  commencement)  was  at  a  joint  meeting  of 
the  literary  societies  of  Washington  College.  He  spoke 
standing  on  the  floor,  surrounded  by  the  students.  He 
was  very  brief.  All  that  I  now  remember  is  that  he 
declared  it  "the  duty  of  the  students  to  do  all  in  their 
power  to  give  eclat  to  the  exercises  of  the  approaching 
commencement. " 

It  was  generally  believed  in  college  that  General  Lee 
was  acquainted  with  the  standing  of  each  student  in  all 
of  his  classes.  Certain  it  is  that  his  knowledge  of  the 
students  and  of  their  work  was  wonderful.  He  kept  up 
with  the  absences  and  was  quick  to  mark  a  change  in  a 
student's  grades,  whether  by  way  of  improvement  or 
the  reverse.  His  signature  was  on  all  the  monthly 
reports  sent  to  parents;  and  he  frequently  wrote  them 
personal  letters  concerning  their  sons,  sometimes  of 
praise,  and  sometimes  of  censure.  The  catalogue  of 
those  days  declared:  "The  President  attends  all  exami 
nations."  In  performance  of  this  duty  General  Lee 
never  failed  to  be  present  during  the  "oral,"  which  at 


GENERAL  LEE  AT  LEXINGTON  27 

that  time  formed  a  part  of  all  examinations.  I  have 
recited  in  the  presence  of  General  Lee  many  times,  and 
(especially  in  mathematics  at  the  blackboard)  it  was  a 
severe  ordeal.  I  have  often  wondered  how  he  found  the 
patience  to  endure  the  many  hours  of  attendance  on  the 
many  classes.  The  last  year  of  his  presidency  I  con 
ducted  the  "oral"  in  certain  classes  in  the  presence  of 
General  Lee,  and  I  do  not  know  whether  the  embarrass 
ment  was  greater  to  the  student  or  to  the  teacher. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  students  with  whom  General 
Lee  kept  in  touch,  and  whom  he  expected  to  do  their 
duty.  He  required  the  professors  to  be  at  their  posts 
and  was  displeased  if  they  were  absent  from  their 
classes  without  his  knowledge.  Nor  did  he  hesitate  to 
rebuke  such  a  breach  of  discipline,  as  the  following 
instance  will  show,  which  illustrates  also  his  usual 
indirect  method  of  conveying  censure.  Meeting  Cap 
tain ,  an  assistant  professor,  who  had  been  absent 

without  leave  for  several  days,  he  thus  addressed  him: 
"Good  morning,  Captain.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  back 
again.  It  was  by  accident,  Sir,  that  I  learned  that  you 
were  away. "  It  may  safely  be  presumed  that  Captain 
(a  gallant  Confederate  soldier,  by  the  way),  ob 
tained  permission  from  the  president  the  next  time  he 
desired  to  leave  town. 

I  may  relate  here  a  conversation  with  General  Lee, 
which  shows  how  much  he  had  the  success  of  all  the 
students  at  heart.  He  met  me  one  morning,  the  winter 
before  his  death,  when  I  had  been  teaching  only  a  few 
months,  and  inquired  how  I  was  getting  on  with  my 


28       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

work.  I  replied  that  I  hoped  I  was  doing  fairly  well. 
"May  I  give  you  one  piece  of  advice,  sir?"  Of  course, 
I  said  I  should  be  delighted  to  receive  it.  "Well,  sir, 
always  observe  the  stage  driver's  rule. "  "What  is  that, 
General?"  "Always  take  care  of  the  poor  horses." 
Since  this  interview  with  General  Lee  I  have  been  a 
teacher  many  years,  and  I  have  tried  to  remember  that 
it  is  the  poor  students  who  most  require  care,  and  that 
for  the  success  of  even  the  poorest,  loving  hearts  are 
hoping  and  praying;  and  I  have  not  dared  to  despair. 

A  word  may  be  said  of  General  Lee's  interest  in  the 
community  in  which  he  lived.  No  one  was  ever  more 
punctilious  in  the  performance  of  social  duties,  and  all 
strangers  visiting  Lexington  who  had  the  least  claim  on 
his  attention,  were  sure  of  a  visit  from  him.  His  public 
spirit  led  him  to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  Valley 
Railroad,  which  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  he 
made  a  visit  to  Baltimore  in  its  interest.  He  was  also 
president  of  the  Rockbridge  Bible  Society  and  took  an 
active  part  in  its  affairs. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  General  Lee  once 
prevented  a  lynching  in  Lexington.  In  the  spring  of 
1866,  while  I  was  a  student  at  Washington  College,  a 
report  reached  the  campus  that  an  attempt  was  being 
made  to  force  the  jail  in  order  to  lynch  a  horse  thief 
named  Jonathan  Hughes,  who,  in  the  troublous  times 
after  the  war,  had  been  plying  his  vocation  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  Lexington.  Horse-stealing  had  become  com 
mon,  and  by  a  then  recent  statute  (enacted  February 
12,  1866)  "to  provide  more  effectually  for  the  punish- 


GENERAL  LEE  AT  LEXINGTON  29 

ment  of  horse-stealing,"  the  punishment  had  been 
fixed  at  death,  or,  in  the  discretion  of  the  jury,  confine 
ment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  period  of  not  less  than 
five  nor  more  than  eighteen  years.  The  discretion  of  the 
jury  to  inflict  the  death  penalty  for  the  crime  was  re 
pealed  in  a  short  time,  the  occasion  for  it  passing  away. 

When  I  reached  the  courthouse  yard,  within  which 
stood  the  jail  where  Hughes  was  confined,  it  was  filled 
with  a  crowd  of  men  who  had  ridden  in  from  the  coun 
try  to  take  the  law  into  their  own  hands.  At  the  top  of 
the  jail  steps,  in  front  of  the  locked  door,  stood  the 
old  jailor,  Thomas  L.  Perry,  holding  the  jail  keys  high 
above  his  head,  and  facing,  with  grim  and  resolute  as 
pect,  the  would-be  lynchers  who  surrounded  him.  For 
some  reason,  perhaps  respect  for  the  old  man's  gray 
hairs,  the  men  next  to  him  had  forborne  to  seize  him 
and  snatch  from  him  the  jail  keys,  as  they  could  easily 
have  done. 

What  I  have  described  above,  the  eye  took  in  with  a 
glance,  and  I  was  not  at  first  aware  of  the  presence  of 
General  Lee.  But  there  he  was  (having  evidently 
preceded  me),  moving  quietly  about  among  the  crowd, 
addressing  a  few  words  to  each  group  as  he  passed, 
begging  them  to  let  the  law  take  its  course.  This  scene 
continued  for  some  time  and  is  indelibly  impressed  on 
my  memory.  The  end  was  there.  Those  stern  Scotch- 
Irishmen,  whose  tenacity  of  purpose  is  proverbial,  aban 
doned  their  enterprise,  remounted  their  horses  and  rode 
out  of  town.  They  could  not  do  a  deed  of  lawless 
violence  in  the  presence  of  "Marse  Robert,"  whose 


30       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

standard  they  had  followed  on  many  a  battlefield.  It 
may  be  of  interest  to  record  that  Hughes  was  duly 
brought  to  trial  for  horse-stealing,  and  on  April  20, 1866, 
was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for 
eighteen  years. 

And  now  it  only  remains  to  speak  briefly  of  General 
Lee's  last  illness  and  death.  On  March  i8th,  1870,  he 
wrote:  "My  health  has  been  so  feeble  this  winter  that  I 
am  only  waiting  to  see  the  effect  of  the  opening  spring 
before  relinquishing  my  present  position.  I  am  admon 
ished  by  my  feelings  that  my  years  of  labor  are  nearly 
over."  His  condition  caused  great  anxiety  to  all  con 
nected  with  the  college,  and  later  in  the  spring  he  was 
persuaded  by  the  authorities  to  try  the  effect  of  a  visit 
to  the  South.  On  his  return  his  health  seemed  improved 
and  he  was  able  to  preside  at  commencement. 

The  session  of  1870-71  began  on  September  I5th,  the 
sixth  year  of  General  Lee's  presidency,  and  he  entered 
as  usual  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  We  fondly  hoped 
that  the  danger  was  past  and  that  his  life  would  be 
prolonged.  But  in  less  than  two  weeks  the  summons 
came.  On  Wednesday,  September  28th,  he  had  pre 
sided  over  a  protracted  vestry  meeting  and  reached 
home  late  for  tea.  As  he  was  about  to  ask  the  blessing 
his  lips  refused  their  office  and  he  sank  down  in  his 
chair.  From  the  first  he  seemed  conscious  that  the 
stroke  was  fatal  and  to  desire  to  withdraw  his  attention 
from  earthly  affairs.  Though  for  the  most  part  ra 
tional  and  able  to  speak,  he  lay  for  fourteen  days  in 
almost  unbroken  silence;  and  then  "This  mortal  put  on 


GENERAL  LEE  AT  LEXINGTON  31 

immortality,"  and  he  passed  "to  where  beyond  these 
voices  there  is  peace. " 

General  Lee  died  October  12,  1870,  at  9:15  A.  M. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  knock  at  the  door  of  the  lecture 
room  and  the  notice  handed  in: 

"General  Lee  died  this  morning.  Academic  exercises 
are  suspended."  I  read  these  words  to  the  class  and 
dismissed  them.  Already  the  church  bells  were  begin 
ning  to  toll. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  AS  PRESI 
DENT  OF  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE 

By  PROFESSOR  M.  W.  HUMPHREYS,  UNIVERSITY,  VIRGINIA 

The  following  contribution  was  prepared  for  this  publication  by  an 
honored  "Lee  Alumnus" — one  of  the  few  surviving  instructors  in  Washing 
ton  College  during  General  Lee's  presidency. — Editor. 

I   ENTERED  Washington  College  about  the  first 
of  April  in  the  session  of  1865-6. 
General    Lee    tried    to   learn    the   names,    or    to 
seem  to  know  the  names  of  all  the  students,  and  would 
avail   himself  of  any  opportunity   to  congratulate  a 
student  on  his  standing  in  his  studies  if  it  was  high. 

He  kept  himself  as  well  informed  as  possible  on  the 
financial  condition  of  students;  who  and  what  their 
parents  were; — in  short  all  their  home  affairs.  He  made 
use  of  this  information  in  his  management  of  the  stu 
dents.  On  one  occasion  he  happened  to  see  a  student 
from  Nashville  throw  a  stone  against  the  upper  part  of 
the  cupola  of  the  chapel  and  knock  a  shingle  off.  He 
knew  that  the  student's  father  was  wealthy,  and  re 
quired  the  student  to  have  the  shingle  replaced.  This 
was  done  by  a  number  of  mechanics,  who  built  scaf 
folding  up  to  the  necessary  height.  The  expense  was 
said  to  be  thirty-odd  dollars. 

He  learned  in  some  way  that  a  certain  student  was 
squandering  money.    He  sent  for  him  and  among  other 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  AS  PRESIDENT     33 

things  said,  "The  money  that  you  are  squandering 
represents  the  sweat  of  your  father's  brow." 

He  often  gave  students  advice  concerning  their  stud 
ies.  I  will  cite  illustrations  to  show  his  conception  of 
education. 

A  very  young,  poorly  prepared  man  (Parrott)  once 
reported  to  him  for  matriculation.  As  was  his  wont,  he 
asked  the  applicant  if  he  had  any  definite  object  in 
view  or  desired  any  special  line  of  studies.  The  applicant 
replied,  "I  have  come  to  take  M.  A."  There  was  a 
twinkle  in  General  Lee's  eye,  but  he  commended  the 
applicant's  purpose,  and  said,  "Mr.  Humphreys  here 
will  tell  you  what  studies  to  take  up  for  the  present." 
(We  had  preparatory  classes  in  those  days.)  I  think  it 
required  six  years,  but  Parrott  took  his  M.  A. 

One  cold  morning  a  few  of  us  were  gathered  at  the 
source  of  heat  in  the  chapel,  waiting  for  the  preacher, 
about  7:40  A.  M.  It  was  about  Christmas  time.  Gen 
eral  Lee  came  in  and  joined  us.  A  young  man  asked 
him  for  permission  to  drop  Latin  and  take  up  chemistry 
instead,  stating  that  it  was  his  last  session;  that  he  was 
going  to  Texas  to  try  to  make  his  fortune,  and  that  he 
wanted  to  be  learning  practical  branches.  General  Lee 
pointed  out  to  him  at  some  length  the  absurdity  (he  did 
not  call  it  that)  of  supposing  that  in  a  half  session  he 
could  learn  enough  chemistry  to  be  of  any  practical  use 
to  him,  and  told  him  that  if  he  would,  here  in  Virginia, 
do  the  work  and  undergo  the  privations  necessary  for 
success  in  Texas,  he  would  succeed  at  least  as  well  as  he 
would  in  Texas.  He  then  told  us  about  life  in  Texas,  as- 


34       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

suring  us  that  he  knew  by  personal  observation  the 
truth  of  what  he  was  saying.  Long  afterwards  (1883-7) 
I  found  his  portrayal  to  be  still  remarkably  accurate.  I 
do  not  think  the  minister  came  that  morning.  I  will 
here  say  that  when  the  minister  acting  as  chaplain 
failed  to  appear  General  Lee  would  sit  till  nearly  8 
o'clock  (when  lectures  began),  and  then,  without 
saying  a  word,  get  up  and  walk  out.  He  always  at 
tended  chapel.  This  I  know,  for  I  always  attended, 
even  when  I  boarded  i>£  miles  in  the  country  and  often 
went  without  my  breakfast.  A  pious  friend  of  mine 
once  said  to  me,  "I  am  afraid  you  were  worshipping 
Lee  rather  than  Jehovah."  I  replied,  "  I  was." 

I  wish  to  be  very  clear,  positive,  and  explicit.  I  once 
published  a  statement  which  was  quoted  in  an  article  by 
Professor  E.  S.  Joynes,  who  in  turn  was  quoted  by  the 
author  of  a  book  the  title  of  which  I  have  forgotten. 
This  author  had  not  seen  my  article  (in  Wake  Forest 
Student)*  and  almost  expresses  doubt  of  the  correct 
ness  of  my  statement,  though,  assuming  it  to  be  true, 
he  devotes  considerable  space  to  a  discussion  of  the 
subject. f  I  will  presently  repeat  the  incident.  First, 
however,  I  wish  to  say  that  General  Lee's  discipline  was 
just  the  opposite  of  what  one  would  naturally  expect 
from  a  man  who  had  received  military  training  and  had 
exercised  military  authority  for  many  years.  In  fact, 
he  seemed  to  have  an  aversion  for  military  usages.  It 

*  This  article  appeared  in  the  Wake  Forest  Student  for  January,  1907. — 
Editor. 

t  See  Bradford's  Lee  the  American,  233-4. — Editor. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  AS  PRESIDENT     35 

sometimes  happened  that  the  faculties  of  the  college 
and  the  military  institute  followed  by  the  students  and 
cadets  marched  in  a  joint  procession.  On  such  occasions 
General  Lee  and  General  Smith  (superintendent  of 
V.  M.  I.)  marched  side  by  side.  General  Smith  always 
held  himself  in  an  exact  military  posture  and  brought 
his  feet,  especially  the  left  one,  down  firmly  in  perfect 
time,  whereas  not  even  the  beating  of  the  bass  drum 
could  make  General  Lee  keep  step.  He  simply  walked 
along  in  a  natural  manner,  but  although  this  manner 
appeared  so  natural,  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  consciously 
avoided  keeping  step,  so  uniformly  did  he  fail  to  plant 
his  foot  simultaneously  with  General  Smith  or  at  the 
beat  of  the  drum. 

When  the  reports  (at  first  weekly,  afterwards  monthly) 
were  handed  in  by  the  professors  and  other  instructors, 
General  Lee  carefully  examined  every  detail  in  each 
student's  report.  If  marked  neglect  of  study  or  irregu 
larity  of  attendance  at  lectures  or  recitations  was  indi 
cated,  he  summoned  the  student  to  his  office  and  had 
a  talk  with  him.  If  this  method  of  reforming  him 
proved  hopeless,  he  wrote  to  the  student's  parent  or 
guardian,  requesting  that  the  student  be  called  home. 
A  roommate  of  mine  was  called  home  in  this  way, 
though,  so  far  as  I  knew  or  had  reason  to  believe,  he 
was  not  guilty  of  any  positive  vices  except  that  he 
wrote  verses  so  persistently  that  he  was  dubbed  "The 
College  Bard"  by  his  fellow  students;  but  he  simply 
could  not  make  himself  study,  though  he  resolved  and 
re-resolved  to  "stand  at  the  head  of  his  classes," 


36   GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

recording    his   resolutions   at    short   intervals   in    his 
diary. 

In  cases  where  positive  vices  were  concerned  he  was 
careful  to  have  the  facts  established  with  absolute  cer 
tainty.  A  good  illustration  of  this  was  an  incident  which 
I  did  not  witness,  but  which  I  learned  from  several 
professors.  A  student  was  charged  with  habitual  dis 
sipation.  Much  hearsay  evidence  was  adduced  by 
various  professors,  one  of  them  declaring  it  to  be  "fama 
clomosa"  that  the  accused  habitually  frequented  bar 
rooms  and  was  often  intoxicated.  Not  a  voice  was 
raised  in  his  favor  and  it  was  evident  that,  if  it  were  put 
to  a  vote,  he  would  be  unanimously  dismissed.  But 
General  Lee,  instead  of  taking  the  vote,  asked  two 
questions:  "Have  any  of  you  seen  this  young  man  intoxi 
cated?"  No  response.  "Have  any  of  you  seen  him 
entering  barrooms?"  No  response.  Then  General  Lee 
startled  the  faculty.  He  said  in  substance:  "We  must 
be  very  careful  how  we  are  influenced  by  hearsay.  Dur 
ing  the  war  at  a  time  when  my  physical  and  mental 
strain  was  intense,  /  was  reported  to  the  executive  as 
being  habitually  intoxicated  and  unfit  for  the  discharge  of 
my  duties. "  A  motion  to  lay  on  the  table  was  unani 
mously  adopted.  The  student  remained  in  college.  It 
was  currently  reported  that  General  Lee  had  an  inter 
view  with  him^  which  led  to  permanent  reforma 
tion. 

In  the  session  of  1866-7  the  students  petitioned  the 
faculty  for  a  week's  holiday  at  Christmas  instead  of  the 
single  day  that  had  been  adopted  in  imitation  of  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  AS  PRESIDENT     37 

University  of  Virginia  (as  it  then  was).  The  petition 
was  declined.  A  paper  was  started  around  for  the  signa 
tures  of  students  pledging  themselves  not  to  attend  any 
lectures  from  Christmas  to  New  Year's  day.  When 
sixty-nine  students,  including  my  roommate  but  not 
myself,  had  signed  this  paper,  news  of  the  movement 
came  to  General  Lee's  ears,  and  he  merely  said  in  the 
hearing  of  two  or  three  students:  "Every  man  that  signs 
that  paper  will  be  summarily  dismissed.  If  all  sign 
it,  I  shall  lock  up  the  college  and  put  the  keys  in  my 
pocket."  I  told  my  roommate  about  this  and  he 
ran  to  college  (a  mile  and  a  half)  to  scratch  his  name 
off;  but  he  could  not  find  the  paper.  It  had  been 
destroyed. 

I  now  narrate,  in  greater  detail  than  in  the  Wake 
Forest  Student  the  incident  mentioned  before,  and  I 
wish  to  emphasize  the  correctness  of  my  statement.  I 
cannot  be  mistaken  about  a  thing  that  astounded  me 
more  than  anything  else  ever  did  in  my  long  life  of 
many  varied  experiences. 

When  I  was  assistant  professor  of  Latin  and  Greek  and 
taught  four  daily  classes  (each  six  times  a  week),  a 
great  evil  became  prevalent.  Very  often  a  student, 
when  called  on  to  recite,  would  say  "unprepared," 
and  then,  after  the  class  was  dismissed,  would  tell  me 
that  he  was  sick  the  night  before,  or  rarely  would  offer 
some  other  excuse.  I  undertook  to  put  an  end  to  this 
demoralizing  custom.  I  called  at  General  Lee's  office, 
stated  the  above  facts  to  him  and  told  him  that  I 
wished  to  try  a  remedy  for  the  evil,  but  that  the  rule  I 


38       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

wished  to  adopt  as  a  remedy  would  be  hard  to  enforce 
unless  it  had  his  approval.  The  rule  was  this:  If  a 
student  was  unprepared,  he  must  write  his  excuse 
concisely  on  a  slip  of  paper  and  lay  it  on  my  table  (or 
desk)  before  the  recitation  began.  If  he  failed  to  do 
this  and  answered  "unprepared"  when  called  on,  he 
must  take  zero  no  matter  what  his  excuse  might  be. 
General  Lee  pondered  a  moment,  gave  his  approval  and 
added  in  substance:  "But  as  a  general  principle  you 
should  not  force  young  men  to  do  their  duty,  but  let 
them  do  it  voluntarily  and  thereby  develop  their  char 
acters.  "  I  suppose  I  showed  some  surprise,  for,  making 
some  remark  that  showed  he  had  read  my  thoughts,  he 
added  these  exact  words:  "  The  great  mistake  of  my  life 
was  taking  a  military  education." 

Whether  men  can  or  cannot  conjecture  what  course 
General  Lee  thought  he  ought  to  have  pursued,  is  a 
matter  of  no  concern  to  me;  he  certainly  used  the  above 
quoted  words. 

As  to  the  effect  of  General  Lee's  presidency  on  the 
number  of  students  (and  professors,  for  that  matter) 
it  is  sufficient  to  note  that  during  the  session  of  1 860-61 
there  were  83  (eighty-three)  students  (if  my  count  was 
correct,  no  catalogue,  so  far  as  I  know,  having  been 
published).  There  were  a  president,  four  professors 
(Latin,  Greek,  mathematics,  and  chemistry),  and  two 
tutors  (for  freshman  mathematics).  The  president 
taught  "Moral  Philosophy"  and  "Belles  Lettres."  A 
foreigner  gave  private  instruction  in  French  (and  possi 
bly  German)  to  such  as  cared  to  pay  him  for  his  instruc- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  AS  PRESIDENT     39 

tion.     The  professor  of  mathematics  taught  applied 
mathematics.* 

Just  once  it  was  my  lot  to  receive  a  severe  rebuke  from 
General  Lee.  While  I  was  an  undergraduate  my 
health  seemed  to  become  impaired,  and  he  had  a  con 
versation  with  me  about  it,  in  which  he  expressed  the 
opinion  that  I  was  working  too  hard.  I  replied:  "I  am 
so  impatient  to  make  up  for  the  time  I  lost  in  the 
army—  '  I  got  no  further.  Lee  flushed  and  exclaimed  in 
an  almost  angry  tone:  "  Mr.  Humphreys!  However  long 
you  live  and  whatever  you  accomplish,  you  will  find 
that  the  time  you  spent  in  the  Confederate  army  was 
the  most  profitably  spent  portion  of  your  life.  Never 
again  speak  of  having  lost  time  in  the  army."  And  I 
never  again  did. 

*  The  report  of  the  faculty  to  the  trustees  under  dateof  June  20,  1865,  says: 
"The  institution  has  been  kept  open  during  the  past  session  chiefly  as  a 
preparatory  school.  The  number  of  pupils  in  attendance  has  varied  from  30 
to  45."  The  next  session  opened  Sept.  15,  1865,  with  22  students.  These 
facts  are  taken  from  the  MS.  volume  of  Records  of  the  Meetings  of  the 
Fatuity  of  Washington  College  commencing  Feb.  24,  1857. — Editor. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GENERAL  LEE 

By  F.  A.  BERLIN,  OAKLAND,  CALIFORNIA 

The  author  of  this  sketch  died  September  3,  1920,  a  few  months  after 
sending  it  to  the  editor  of  this  publication. — Editor. 

I  MUST  preface  my  remarks  by  saying  that  when 
I  entered  Washington  &  Lee  University  I  was 
only  seventeen  years  old,  and  like  everybody 
else  in  Virginia,  I  venerated  the  name  of  General 
Lee.  As  I  was  quite  young  at  that  time  and  took  a 
somewhat  pretentious  course  at  the  university,  I  was 
busy  every  moment  of  the  time  that  I  was  there.  I 
did  not  therefore  have  much  time  for  social  or  recrea 
tional  duties,  and,  of  course,  because  of  my  age,  and 
because  I  was  a  freshman,  I  had  a  subordinate  stand 
ing.  Consequently  there  is  not  very  much  that  I  can 
speak  of  from  my  own  knowledge. 

About  September  ist,  1864,  I  entered  Roanoke  Col 
lege  at  Salem,  Va.,  and  remained  there  until  the  college 
closed  in  April,  1865,  immediately  after  the  surrender 
of  General  Lee.  I  had  expected  to  return  to  Roanoke 
College  again  whenever  it  opened,  but  it  became  known 
before  the  next  term  opened  that  General  Robert 
E.  Lee  would  become  president  of  Washington  College. 
As  my  parents  and  I  thought  that  the  influence  and 
example  of  General  Lee  would  be  of  inestimable  value 
to  the  young  men  of  the  South,  it  was  decided  that  I 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GENERAL  LEE  41 

should  enter  Washington  College  on  the  first  of  Septem 
ber,  1865. 

At  that  time  my  family  was  living  at  Bridgewater, 
Rockingham  county,  Virginia,  and  the  only  means  of 
communication  between  our  town  and  Lexington  was 
by  stage.  So  I  traveled  to  Lexington  by  stage  and 
arrived  there  I  think  on  the  last  day  of  August,  suppos 
ing  that  the  term  would  open  the  next  day.  But  when 
I  reached  Lexington  there  was  no  one  there  whom  I 
knew,  and  upon  inquiry  at  the  college  buildings  I 
found  out  that  the  buildings  would  not  be  ready  for  the 
occupancy  of  the  students  for  about  two  weeks,  as  the 
property  had  been  very  seriously  damaged  by  the 
Federal  troops  during  their  raid  into  that  town.  When 
I  learned  these  facts  I  at  once  became  homesick,  and 
as  the  stage  had  left,  determined  to  walk  home,  a 
distance  of  about  sixty  miles.  So  I  left  my  trunk  in 
storage  and  started  to  walk  and  did  walk  almost  the 
entire  distance  home.  On  the  way  Mr.  Ruffner,  who 
was  then  state  superintendent  of  schools  in  Virginia, 
with  his  wife,  in  a  one-horse  buggy,  overtook  me  and 
very  kindly  allowed  me  to  crouch  in  the  front  part  of 
their  buggy,  for  some  few  miles. 

On  arrival  at  home  of  course  my  family  was  very 
much  surprised  to  see  me.  But  at  the  end  of  two  weeks, 
when  I  learned  definitely  that  the  college  was  ready  to 
open  its  exercises,  I  took  the  stage  again  and  returned 
to  Lexington  and  was  present  on  the  opening  day,  some 
where  about  the  1 5th  of  September,  1865.  A  few  days 
after  I  arrived  there  General  Lee  was  installed  as  presi- 


42       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

dent  of  the  college.  I  remember  very  well  the  installa 
tion  exercises  took  place  in  the  south  end  of  the  building. 
I  think  it  was  called  "South  Hall/'  but  of  this  I  am  not 
sure.  However,  it  was  next  to  the  south  dormitories. 
And  on  the  second  floor  of  that  building,  in  a  room 
which  had  been  used  or  prepared  for  a  lecture  room,  and 
where  afterwards  I  attended  lectures  under  Professor 
John  Campbell,  in  the  physics  course,  and  there  General 
Lee  was  inaugurated  as  president  of  the  college.  As  I 
remember,  there  were  not  more  than  thirty  persons 
present  at  that  inauguration.  It  seemed  to  us  a  rather 
solemn  occasion.  General  Lee  looked  very  serious  at 
that  time.  He  doubtless  felt  that  the  whole  world  was 
looking  upon  him  as  a  defeated  soldier.  I  do  not 
remember  now  who  administered  the  oath  to  him, 
but  I  remember  that  the  oath  was  administered  in  the 
usual  form,  to  the  effect  that  he  would  faithfully  fulfill 
the  duties  of  the  office  of  president  of  the  university. 
I  do  not  recollect  that  there  was  any  speech  making  on 
that  occasion,  probably  a  mere  introduction. 

As  I  remember,  we  were  not  engaged  in  the  room  more 
than  ten  or  fifteen  minutes,  and  then  all  retired  to  our 
respective  homes  and  to  the  tasks  assigned  to  us  for 
our  opening  studies.  I  think  the  room  adjoining  this 
lecture  room  of  Professor  Campbell's  was  selected  for 
General  Lee's  office.  I  know  he  occupied  an  adjoining 
room  during  the  whole  time  I  was  at  the  university. 

I  entered  the  college  when  it  opened,  immediately 
after  the  war,  September,  1865,  and  remained  there  for 
two  sessions,  that  is,  1865-66  and  11866-67.  ^n  tne 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GENERAL  LEE  43 

summer  of  1867  my  father  concluded,  as  there  were 
five  younger  children  in  our  family  and  as  I  had  had 
the  benefit  of  three  years  at  college,  that  I  ought  to 
give  some  portion  of  my  time  to  the  instruction  of  the 
younger  children.  I  did  not,  therefore,  re-enter  Wash 
ington  College  again,  but  taught  at  home  for  one  year, 
and  I  then  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  session 
1868-69,  where  I  remained  for  two  years  in  the  academic 
course  and  finished  the  law  course  at  the  end  of  the 
third  year,  taking  the  degree  of  B.  L.  in  June,  1871. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  me  to  say  anything  about  the 
devotion  of  the  people  of  Virginia  and  of  the  entire 
South  to  General  Lee  and  how  they  regarded  him  as  on 
a  pinnacle  by  himself  as  one  of  the  truest,  bravest,  and 
noblest  men,  and  yet  in  a  certain  way  he  was  an  effem 
inate  man  because  he  was  so  extremely  kind,  gentle,  and 
considerate  of  everybody,  and  always  had  a  spirit  of 
deference  for  others.  I  remember  often  seeing  him 
cross  the  street  at  the  corner  between  his  residence  and 
the  Episcopal  church.  In  winter  that  crossing  was  very 
bad  in  those  days,  and'  the  only  means  of  crossing,  to 
keep  out  of  the  mud,  was  by  a  board  plank  about  a  foot 
wide.  I  have  frequently  seen  General  Lee  crossing  that 
plank  and  stepping  off  to  the  side  when  some  one  was 
coming  in  the  opposite  direction. 

General  Lee  was  in  very  close  touch  with  all  the  boys. 
He  tried  to  be  their  friend  and  comrade,  and  in  the 
kindest  manner  made  suggestions  to  them  and  in  every 
way  encouraged  them  in  the  performance  of  their 
duties.  He  would  always  make  his  appeals  to  them  on 


44       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

the  ground  of  their  duty  to  their  parents,  who  were 
making  sacrifices  for  their  education  and  that  they 
should  take  advantage  of  the  educational  opportunities 
afforded  them  at  college. 

As  I  was  very  young  I  never  had  the  opportunity 
of  attending  any  social  functions  at  his  home.  He  had 
in  the  town  of  Lexington  the  reputation  of  being  the  most 
devoted  of  husbands  to  his  invalid  wife.  I  think  that 
during  the  time  I  was  in  Lexington  there  was  very 
little,  if  any,  entertaining  done  at  his  home  because  of 
Mrs.  Lee's  ill  health. 

Of  course,  the  president's  house  was  not  built  during 
the  first  year  I  was  at  college  and  I  do  not  remember 
exactly  when  it  was  built,  but  I  know  that  while  I  was 
there  arrangements  were  made  for  erecting  this  building 
on  the  west  side  of  the  street  opposite  the  Episcopal 
church. 

During  the  second  year  I  was  at  college  I  was  fortu 
nate  enough  to  live  in  the  home  of  Governor  Letcher, 
who  had  been  the  war  governor  of  Virginia.  I  happened 
to  be  there  because  Mrs.  Letcher  was  my  mother's  first 
cousin.  She  was  one  of  the  most  charming  women  I 
ever  met,  and  she  made  my  stay  there  as  pleasant  as 
if  I  had  been  in  my  own  home.  At  that  time  Governor 
Letcher  was  in  active  practice  of  the  law  in  Lexington, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  in  that 
section  of  the  state.  He  was  a  jolly  good  fellow.  Mrs. 
Letcher  was  an  ideal  housekeeper  and  an  ideal  wife 
and  mother.  At  that  time  her  oldest  daughter,  Miss 
Lizzie  Letcher,  was  a  young  lady  and  was  one  of  the 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GENERAL  LEE  45 

belles  of  Virginia,  and  exceedingly  popular  throughout 
the  state  and  particularly  among  the  students.  Gen 
eral  Lee  was  very  fond  of  Mrs.  Letcher  and  Miss  Lizzie 
and  often  came  to  visit  them,  and  therefore  I  frequently 
had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  socially  in  their  home. 
General  Lee  visited  that  home  in  the  same  free  and 
easy  manner  as  if  he  were  a  member  of  the  household. 

I  do  not  remember  that  in  all  my  experience  I  have 
ever  heard  a  harsh  word  or  criticism  of  any  kind  spoken 
of  General  Lee.  All  of  the  students  loved  and  revered 
him,  and  it  was  a  great  pleasure  for  us  to  meet  him  on 
the  street  or  on  the  campus  and  doff  our  hats  in  honor 
to  him. 

During  the  session  of  1865-66  there  were  compara 
tively  few  boys  of  the  South  who  were  able  to  attend 
college  because  of  the  financial  reverses  caused  by  the 
war.  If  I  remember  correctly,  there  were  not  more 
than  150  students  there  during  that  year,  and  for  that 
reason  we  were  more  of  a  little  family  at  college  than 
subsequently;  for  the  next  year,  about  400  students 
matriculated.  As  there  were  then  no  boarding  houses 
on  the  campus  and  only  a  few  dormitories  the  boys 
were  scattered  all  over  the  town  and  vicinity  and  we 
could  not  be  brought  into  close  contact  with  them  all. 
As  a  result  many  cliques  and  coteries  were  formed 
among  the  students. 

I  remember  several  times  purchasing  a  number  of 
small  photographs  of  General  Lee  and  going  to  his  office 
and  asking  for  his  autograph  to  them,  which  he  always 
very  kindly  and  promptly  gave.  I  think  this  was  the 


46       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

practice  among  the  students.     One  day  I  purchased 
half  a  dozen  small  photographs  of  him,  which  I  thought 
to  be  good,  and  took  them  to  his  office  and  asked  for  his 
autograph.    He  very  kindly  told  me  that  he  was  very 
busy  that  day  and  requested  me  to  leave  them,  which 
I  did,  and  that  I  should  call  another  day,  which  he 
specified,  and  he  would  have  them  ready  for  me.    A  few 
days  after  that  I  called  upon  him  and  he  had  signed  his 
name  to  all  the  photographs  which  I  had  left  (some  of 
which  I  still  have).    He  then  went  to  his  secretary  and 
took  therefrom  another  photograph  which  had  recently 
been  made  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  by  Gardner,  and  he 
said  to  me  "I  think  this  is  one  of  the  best  photographs 
of  myself  that  I  have  seen.    I  want  to  give  you  one  of 
them,"  and  he  signed  his  name  at  the  bottom  of  it  and 
gave  it  to  me.    This  photograph  I  still  have  and  prize 
very  highly.    In  those  days  at  college  it  was  customary 
to  send  out  a  report  of  the  student's  standing  at  the  end 
of  each  month,  so  that  my  father  received  every  month 
a  report  of  my  standing  at  college.     During  the  first 
year  I  was  at  college  my  report  was  very  good.    It  was 
customary  to  post  on  Saturday  in  the  South  Hall  a  list 
of  the  students  with  their  relative  standing,   and  I 
remember  that  F.  J.  Snyder,  whose  name  was  Flavius 
Joseph  Snyder,  always  stood  at  the  top  of  the  list.    He 
had  been   a  Confederate  soldier  and  was  somewhat 
older  than  the  rest  of  us  and  came  from  West  Virginia. 
I  also  remember  that  I  was  very  frequently  second  on 
that  list,  and  always  had  a  good  standing.    During  the 
session  of  1 866-67  I  naci  a  good  many  studies  and  there- 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GENERAL  LEE  47 

fore  my  standing  was  not  so  high,  although  very  fair. 
I  remember  a  letter  that  General  Lee  wrote  to  my  father, 
telling  him  that  I  was  undertaking  to  do  too  much 
"notwithstanding  excellent  capacity."  I  prized  this 
letter  very  much,  but  this  and  other  letters  from  Gen 
eral  Lee  were  burned  in  my  office  in  San  Francisco 
in  1906,  the  time  of  the  great  earthquake  and  fire,  and 
has  been  regarded  as  an  irreparable  loss  to  me. 

I  met  General  Lee  a  number  of  times  after  I  had  left 
college,  and  he  seemed  to  remember  me  and  my  name 
and  was  always  very  kind  and  cordial  to  me. 

I  remember  when  I  was  at  the  University  of  Virginia 
I  heard  one  day  that  he  was  going  to  pass  the  university 
on  a  train,  on  the  way  to  Richmond.  As  the  train 
always  stopped  a  few  minutes  at  the  university  station 
I  went  down  to  the  station  determined  to  see  him.  I 
got  on  the  car  there  and  rode  down  to  Charlottesville. 
This  was  the  last  time  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
him  personally. 

Therefore,  you  can  well  understand  that  the  sweetest 
and  dearest  memories  of  my  college  career,  and  of  my 
life  in  fact,  are  associated  with  General  Lee.  I  do  not 
remember  ever  passing  him  upon  the  street  or  on  the 
campus  at  Lexington  but  that  he  stopped  and  spoke 
to  me  often  about  some  commonplace  matter,  but  just 
enough  to  show  me  that  he  knew  I  was  a  student  there 
and  that  I  was  one  of  his  wards  in  the  college,  and 
enough  to  assure  me  that  he  felt  an  interest  in  me  as  he 
did  in  all  the  other  boys.  All  that  I  know  personally 
of  General  Lee  is  these  little  personal  contacts. 


48      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

When  I  determined  to  enter  the  University  of  Vir 
ginia  in  1868, 1  thought  that  as  I  had  been  at  Washing 
ton  College  it  would  be  proper  for  me  to  take  to  the 
University  of  Virginia  a  letter  of  commendation,  or  at 
least  some  statement  to  the  effect  that  I  had  been  a 
student  at  Washington  College  and  what  my  character 
and  standing  were  there;  and  I  had  a  very  lovely  letter 
from  General  Lee,  which  came  very  promptly  in  an 
swer  to  my  request  for  the  same,  commending  me  to  the 
officers  of  the  University  of  Virginia.  That  letter, 
unfortunately,  also  went  in  the  fire. 

Of  course,  I  have  read  a  great  deal  about  General  Lee 
and  have  read  many  books  relating  to  him,  but  if  I 
had  written  a  biography  of  General  Lee  when  I  was 
eighteen  years  old,  the  above  is  about  what  I  would 
have  said.  These  memories  come  back  to  me  with  the 
spirit  of  a  boy,  not  as  a  treatise  on  history  or  ethics  or 
biography.  I  do  not  know  that  these  random  thoughts 
will  be  of  any  advantage  to  you,  but  since  I  have  always 
been  loyal  to  Washington  and  Lee  University,  and  am 
willing  to  say  and  do  whatever  I  can  in  memory  of  our 
immortal  Lee,  I  write  these  thoughts  to  show  my 
loyalty  to  the  cause. 


TRIBUTE  OF  AN  APPRECIATIVE  STUDENT 

By  W.  W.  ESTILL,  LEXINGTON,  KENTUCKY 

I  HAD  a  cousin,  who  at  the  time  of  my  reaching 
Lexington  was  an  assistant  professor.  He  kindly 
allowed  me  to  become  an  inmate  of  his  home. 
As  he  was  a  resident  of  the  town,  an  ex-Confederate 
officer,  and  well  acquainted  socially,  I  was  soon  by 
him  introduced  to  all  the  homes  where  he  visited.  I 
well  recollect  my  first  visit  to  the  home  of  General  Lee. 
Just  before  we  entered  the  house  my  cousin  said,  "It  is 
the  custom  here  to  introduce  a  stranger  to  the  first  mem 
ber  of  the  family  we  meet  and  after  that  you  will  allow 
that  member  to  do  as  seems  best."  I  met  Miss  Mildred 
Lee  that  night  and  was  charmed  with  her  manner  and 
conversation.  Subsequently  I  met  all  the  family  and 
was  more  than  once  invited  to  social  gatherings  at  the 
house.  I  was  never  before  so  close  to  General  Lee.  I 
was  struck  with  his  looks  and  bearing.  I  thought  then 
and  still  think  that  he  was  by  far  the  handsomest  man 
I  ever  saw.  His  splendid  physique,  grand  carriage 
without  "airs,"  universal  politeness,  and  evident  kind 
heart,  impressed  me  greatly,  and  to  this  day  I  can  see 
him  as  plainly  as  then. 

Every  afternoon,  rain  or  shine,  he  mounted  "Travel 
ler"  and  had  a  ride.  He  always,  as  I  recall  him,  wore  a 
double-breasted  gray  coat,  buttoned  to  the  throat,  with 


SO       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

black  buttons,  top  boots,  a  pair  of  spurs,  gauntlet 
gloves,  a  large  light-colored  hat  with  a  military  cord 
around  it.  His  poise  was  perfect,  and  I  enjoyed  looking 
at  him  every  time  he  passed,  and  I  suspect  I  stopped 
and  looked  at  him  hundreds  of  times. 

He  was  very  approachable,  easy  to  talk  to  and  always 
appeared  willing  to  hear.  I  have  seen  little  girls  go  up 
to  him  on  the  street,  take  his  hand,  and  walk  and  talk 
with  him  as  with  a  parent. 

Once  a  Scottish  gentleman,  a  Mr.  McCrea,  I  think, 
came  to  Lexington  and  called  on  General  Lee.  He 
proposed  to  give  a  lecture  at  the  Franklin  Library  and 
turn  over  the  proceeds  to  its  treasurer.  I  went  to  hear 
him  and  fortunately  had  a  seat  by  the  side  of  General 
Lee.  The  lecture  was  very  humorous  and  excited  Gen 
eral  Lee  to  laughter  several  times.  This  did  not  attract 
attention,  but  being  so  close  to  him  I  could  see  his 
body  quiver  with  suppressed  laughter.  He  thoroughly 
enjoyed  it,  and  said  so  afterwards. 

A  young  man  from  Baltimore  was  drowned  just  below 
the  dam  in  the  river  while  I  was  there.  As  soon  as  I 
heard  of  it,  I  instinctively  wanted  to  see  General  Lee, 
so  I  went  directly  to  his  house  in  company  with  a 
companion,  and  we  asked  what  we  could  do.  I  do  not 
now  remember  his  words,  but  he  seemed  to  be  master 
of  the  situation,  quickly  told  us  what  to  do  and  we 
passed  out.  How  very  careful  and  thoughtful  he  was 
of  the  students  can  best  be  illustrated  by  telling  how  he 
treated  me  when  my  mother  died.  I  was  too  far  from 
home  to  attempt  to  return  when  I  received  a  telegram 


TRIBUTE  OF  AN  APPRECIATIVE  STUDENT  51 

announcing  her  death.  I  handed  it  to  my  roommate, 
asked  him  to  take  it  to  General  Lee  and  tell  him  I 
would  not  attend  any  classes  for  two  or  three  days.  At 
the  end  of  the  month  when  my  report  came  out  there 
was  not  a  single  absent  mark  against  me.  This  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  General  Lee's  going  to  each  pro 
fessor  to  whom  I  recited  and  telling  him.  To  me  this  is 
a  remarkable  illustration  of  his  kindness  to  and  care 
for  the  boys  entrusted  to  him.  If  I  had  no  other  reason, 
I  would  love  him  for  that  yet. 

Everyone  obeyed  him,  not  because  they  feared  but 
because  they  loved  him,  and  I  don't  think  there  was  one 
of  the  about  800  boys  who  were  there  but  would  have 
died  defending  him  if  necessary.  I  was  never  called  to 
his  office,  but  I  have  heard  the  boys  who  were  say  his 
admonitions  were  as  tender  as  a  mother's  and  his 
warnings  and  instructions  always  fatherly  and  wise.  In 
all  the  years  that  have  passed  I  have  thought  of  him 
and  to  this  day  the  things  I  learned  from  listening 
to  his  conversation,  watching  his  bearing  and  example 
I  carry  with  me  as  a  most  important  part  of  my 
education. 

Some  years  ago  I  visited  the  rooms  of  the  Virginia 
Historical  Society  at  Richmond  chiefly  to  see  if  there 
was  on  its  walls  a  good  likeness  of  General  Lee.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  I  did  not  see  one  that  pleased  me  and 
so  told  the  lady  "in  charge.  I  have  a  picture  of  him, 
which  he  gave  me  and  to  which  I  saw  him  attach  his 
autograph. 

I  don't  want  to  close  this  bad  sketch  without  telling 


52       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

of  a  meeting  General  Lee  had  with  one  of  his  old  soldiers 
in  Richmond,  Virginia,  a  few  months  after  the  surren 
der.  His  daughter,  Miss  Mildred  Lee,  told  me  this 
incident  and  said  that  she  witnessed  it.  She  and  her 
father  were  sitting  one  day  in  the  back  of  the  front  hall 
when  the  door  bell  rang.  Her  father  walked  to  the  door 
and  opened  it.  There  stood  in  the  door  a  long,  tall, 
lean  man,  dressed  in  homespun  and  his  shoes  and  lower 
part  of  his  trousers  covered  with  dust.  He  grabbed  the 
General's  extending  hand  and  spoke  about  as  follows: 
"General  Lee,  I  followed  you  four  years  and  done  the 
best  I  knowed  how.  Me  and  my  wife  live  on  a  little 
farm  away  up  on  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains.  We  heard 
the  Yankees  wasn't  treating  you  right,  and  I  come 
down  to  see  'bout  it.  If  you  will  come  up  thar  we  will 
take  care  of  you  the  best  we  know  how  as  long  as  we 
live."  Before  this  was  over  the  soldier  held  both  of 
General  Lee's  hands  and  tears  were  dropping  from  the 
eyes  of  each.  Pretty  soon  General  Lee  released  one  of 
his  hands  and  reached  out  and  took  up  a  box  containing 
a  suit  of  clothes  that  had  never  been  opened  and  spoke 
about  as  follows:  "My  friend,  I  don't  need  a  thing. 
My  friends  all  over  the  country  have  been  very  kind  and 
have  sent  me  more  clothes  than  I  can  possibly  use,  so 
I  want  to  thank  you  for  coming  and  give  you  this  new 
suit."  The  man  snatched  his  hand  from  General  Lee, 
crossed  his  arms,  straightened  himself  up  and  said, 
"General  Lee,  I  can't  take  nothin'  offen  you."  After 
a  few  moments  he  relaxed,  put  one  hand  on  the  box  and 
said,  "Yes,  I  will,  General,  I  will  carry  them  back  home, 


TRIBUTE  OF  AN  APPRECIATIVE  STUDENT  53 

put  them  away  and  when  I  die  the  boys  will  put  them 
on  me. " 

This  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  college  life,  but  it  is 
too  good  to  die.  His  own  daughter  told  me  of  it  and  I 
am  sure  it  is  true.  I  have  never  seen  it  in  print,  so 
presume  it  has  never  been  printed. 

I  have  taught  my  sons — I  have  no  daughters — my 
friends  and  my  neighbors  to  love  General  Lee  and  honor 
his  memory.  I  have  never  seen  his  equal  upon  this 
earth  and  never  expect  to.  What  he  was,  I  ardently 
wish  all  men  could  be. 


REFLECTIONS  OF  A  LEE  ALUMNUS 

By  JUDGE  ROBERT  EWING,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE 

IT  is  my  recollection,  though  it  has  been  a  long 
time  since  I  studied  classical  literature,  that  when 
Queen  Dido  commanded  ^Eneas  to  describe  to  her 
what  had  taken  place  at  Troy,  the  old  hero  said  that 
in  doing  so  she  ordered  him  "to  renew  his  grief."  At 
least,  that  is  the  way  my  dear  old  professor  of  Latin, 
Carter  J.  Harris,  of  blessed  memory,  used  to  require 
me  to  translate  those  lines  of  Virgil.  How  different  is 
my  feeling  from  that  of  the  Trojan  leader  when,  at 
your  request,  I  attempt  to  send  a  few  lines  embodying 
some  of  the  memories  of  the  years  1867-8,  which  I 
spent  at  Washington  College,  filled  as  they  were  with 
the  keenest  pleasure. 

When  I  read  General  Lee's  modestly  couched  agree 
ment  to  accept  from  the  trustees  the  presidency  of  the 
college,  and  thus  to  continue  to  serve  his  country  in  a 
different,  though  equally  as  great  a  way  as  he  had  just 
ceased  to  serve  it,  I  was,  though  a  mere  lad  and  wholly 
unprepared  for  entry,  fired  with  the  desire  to  serve 
under  him,  and,  if  possible,  learn  to  know  him  as  he 
was,  and  catch  from  him  some  inspiration. 

My  father  had  died  in  Atlanta  in  1864,  serving  the 
same  cause  which  General  Lee  had  served.  His  fortune 
had  been  swept  away  at  the  fall  of  Nashville,  and  I  had 


REFLECTIONS  OF  A  LEE  ALUMNUS  55 

been  compelled  to  work  to  support  myself.  By  hard 
work  I  had  saved  a  little  fund  and  felt  that  I  could  not 
better  invest  it  than  by  going  to  Lexington  and  placing 
myself  under  General  Lee.  Though  I  have  since  sadly 
realized  that  I  did  not  study  while  there  as  I  should 
have  done,  and  as  the  General  was  solicitous  to  have  all 
who  attended  do,  I  count  not  as  lost  the  time  spent 
there,  for  at  my  impressionable  age  and  with  my  intense 
feeling,  simply  to  have  met  General  Lee  and  to  have 
watched  so  noble  a  hero  daily  performing  such  high 
duties,  was  almost  equivalent  to  the  beginning,  at  least, 
of  acquiring  a  liberal  education. 

A  majority  of  the  students  were  young  men  who  had, 
four  years  before,  entered  the  Southern  Army  as  mere 
boys.  They  had  served  as  soldiers  under  General  Lee, 
and  at  that  time  had  the  spirit  of  grown  men.  They 
needed  no  spur  to  endeavor,  other  than  their  reverence 
for  General  Lee  and  their  own  determination  to  seize 
upon  the  only  opportunity  existing  to  prepare  them 
selves  for  useful  lives.  That  they  worked  to  a  purpose, 
their  after  careers  in  life,  some  of  which  I  have  kept  up 
with  pretty  closely,  clearly  demonstrated;  in  fact,  the 
spirit  of  all  was  admirable. 

But  little  attention  was  paid  to  dress,  or  the  securing 
of  personal  comforts.  Students  knew  the  strained 
financial  situation  of  their  home  people  at  that  time,  and 
were  too  proud  to  call  for  any  but  the  most  necessary 
aid.  Under  the  circumstances,  entrance  to  the  college 
was  made  easier  then  than  it  is  or  should  be  now.  The 
faculty  consisted  of  men  of  ability  and  strong  common 


56        GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

sense,  whose  sole  purpose  seemed  to  be  to  take  hold 
vigorously  of  the  situation  as  it  existed,  and  without  any 
sort  of  friction  they  supported  General  Lee  very  whole 
heartedly  in  his  purposes. 

Though  the  General  himself  had  expressed  some 
doubt  as  to  his  suitability  to  serve  as  president,  no  one 
else,  I  am  sure,  ever  had  occasion  to  feel  that  he  was 
other  than  the  ideal  executive.  The  college  started  out 
lacking  money,  of  course;  but  the  services  of  very  able 
men  were  then  to  be  obtained  for  comparatively  small 
compensation — men  who  truly  appreciated  what  the 
times  called  for  and  what  General  Lee  was  seeking  to 
accomplish.  They  were  loyal  to  the  core,  both  to  him 
and  to  the  college.  Then,  too,  it  was  not  a  difficult 
matter  for  so  great  a  leader  of  men  and  so  accomplished 
a  scholar  to  marshal  us  the  way  he  desired  us  to  go.  We 
were  not  exactly. afraid  of  the  General,  but  we  were  so 
unwilling  to  do  anything  which  would  justly  merit  his 
censure  that  this  respect  really  amounted  to  fear.  I 
never  remember  to  have  seen  him  smile.  He  seemed 
borne  down  by  an  overwhelming  sorrow,  the  nature  of 
which  all  knew.  Besides,  he  was  gravely  intent  on 
what  he  regarded  as  very  grave  duties.  I  do  not  mean 
to  convey  the  idea  that  he  was  austere  or  loftily  un 
approachable.  Far  from  it!  In  a  smiling  way,  I  would 
say  that  he  only  seemed  so  to  those  whose  low  marks  in 
their  studies  caused  him  to  send  for  them  for  "personal 
consultation."  It  is  needless  to  say  that  such  interviews 
generally  ended  with  pretty  sincere  promises  on  the 
part  of  those  sent  for  to  do  better.  I  do  not  remember  a 


REFLECTIONS  OF  A  LEE  ALUMNUS  57 

single  case  where  a  student  actually  sought  to  deceive 
him,  though  many  culprits  came  away  from  his  office 
with  his  signed  photographs.  That  was  quite  a  popular, 
transparent  dodge,  though  such  souvenirs  were  really 
very  much  prized  by  the  boys  and  their  home  people  as 
well.  I  remember  sending  one  to  my  sister,  and  one  to 
another  fellow's  sister,  though  I  am  not  going  to  say 
what  was  the  exact  occasion  for  my  purchasing  them  at 
Miley's  photograph  gallery.  I  will  admit,  though,  that 
the  General's  close  scrutiny  of  the  progress  being  made 
by  each  student  was  such  that  he  did  not  overlook 
even  me. 

Self-confidence  in  his  ability  to  do  great  things  in  a 
great  way  may  possibly  have  appeared  to  some  to  have 
been  lacking  in  General  Lee,  but  this  was  only  an 
appearance  easily  accounted  for  by  his  excessive  mod 
esty.  He  knew  what  he  had  accomplished  as  a  military 
leader  and  what  ability  under  such  adversities  had  been 
required.  He  knew  that  he  could  perform  efficiently 
the  duties  of  president  of  the  college,  or  he  certainly 
would  not  have  accepted  the  office.  It  was  not  with 
him  a  mere  lending  of  his  great  name  to  an  institution 
engaged  in  a  great  cause  which  he  himself  had  been 
strongly  advocating — the  education  of  Southern  youth. 
His  hesitant  acceptance  was  simply  an  honest  notice  to 
the  trustees  not  to  expect  too  much  of  him  in  purely 
technical  matters.  I  venture  to  say  that  the  most 
trained  executive  living  at  that  time  could  not  have 
accomplished  as  much  good  as  he  did,  simply  because 
he  had  the  power  to  bring  out,  and  did  bring  out,  the 


58      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

very  best  that  there  was  in  every  student.  He  individ 
ually  was  able  to  do  this  because  of  the  profound 
esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  all.  I  believe  the  work 
was  agreeable  to  him,  because  he  knew  that  the  people 
he  loved  were  earnestly  seeking  that  which  he  knew  to 
be  to  their  best  interests.  I  believe  that  those  young 
men  who  went  from  the  halls  of  Washington  College,  the 
University  of  Virginia,  and  other  institutions,  had  very 
much  to  do  with  the  recovery  of  the  South  and  getting 
her  on  the  plane  she  now  occupies  before  the  world. 

As  soon  as  the  recumbent  statue  of  the  General  was 
finished  and  placed  in  the  chapel,  I  obtained  a  large 
photograph  of  it,  and  it  has  ever  since  hung  in  my  hall  as 
one  of  my  prized  possessions.  I  see  it  daily,  but  I 
never  gaze  upon  it  without  feeling  that  I  was  indeed 
fortunate  to  have  known  in  life  THE  IDEAL  MAN  OF 
THE  WORLD,  for  such  I  always  considered  him. 


REMINISCENCES   OF    GENERAL   LEE   AND 
WASHINGTON  COLLEGE 

By  RICHARD  W.  ROGERS,  ZEBULON,  GEORGIA 

EARLY  in  September,  1867,  a  party  of  young 
men  composed  of  David  L.  Anderson,  who 
died  as  a  Methodist  Missionary  in  China; 
W.  W.  Collins,  Louis  Bond,  John  Powers,  J.  Frank 
Rogers,  J.  W.  Locket t  and  the  writer  left  Macon, 
Georgia,  to  enter  Washington  College.  We  went  via 
Richmond  to  Lynchburg,  where  we  took  a  canal  boat 
for  the  remaining  thirty  miles  of  the  journey.  This 
canal  trip  was  a  novel  experience  for  us.  The  boat  was 
propelled  by  mule  power,  the  mules  walking  along  the 
tow  path  on  the  bank.  In  spite  of  the  new  experience, 
the  trip  was  slow  and  tedious. 

When  we  reached  Lexington,  we  sought  Dr.  Kirk- 
patrick,  professor  of  moral  philosophy,  to  whom  we  had 
letters  of  introduction  from  Dr.  David  Wills,  a  Presby 
terian  minister  of  Macon.  Dr.  Kirkpatrick  became  a 
true  friend  to  the  "Macon  club"  and  remained  so  as 
long  as  we  were  in  college.  He  soon  secured  board  for  us 
at  the  home  of  an  elect  Virginia  lady,  Mrs.  Estill.  The 
next  morning,  with  some  trepidation,  we  repaired  to 
General  Lee's  office  to  matriculate.  He  received  us 
very  graciously,  made  inquiries  about  our  studies,  and 
the  classes  we  expected  to  enter.  We  were  somewhat 


60       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

awed  in  the  presence  of  "the  great  Virginian,"  so  we 
answered  in  rather  few  words.  We  were  all  greatly 
relieved,  however,  to  know  that  our  certificates  from 
Professors  R.  M.  McClellan  and  R.  A.  Slaughter,  our 
Macon  instructors,  would  admit  us  without  examination 
to  the  classes  for  which  we  applied.  It  is  a  source  of 
pleasure  to  recall  that  each  one  of  our  number  made  a 
creditable  record  in  all  his  work. 

I  have  often  been  asked  about  General  Lee  as  a 
teacher.  He  heard  no  classes;  in  fact,  I  never  saw  him 
enter  a  recitation  room,  except  during  the  intermediate 
and  final  examinations.  These  examinations  lasted 
from  nine  in  the  morning  until  the  last  man  handed  in 
his  papers,  which  in  some  instances  was  near  midnight. 
Some  of  the  professors  served  lunch  at  noon;  in  other 
rooms  we  fasted.  General  Lee  would  come  in  during 
the  day  and  sit  an  hour  or  two,  but  took  no  part.  The 
examinations  were  both  oral  and  written;  I  stood 
several  oral  ones  in  his  presence.  He  knew  the  class 
standing  of  every  student,  and  there  were  over  four 
hundred  of  us.  On  inquiry  of  a  father  once  as  to  his 
son's  standing,  General  Lee  replied:  "He  is  careful  not 
to  injure  his  health  by  too  much  study."  Among  my 
most  highly  prized  possessions  is  a  letter  from  him  to  my 
father,  Dr.  C.  Rogers,  in  regard  to  my  class  standing. 

Inquiries  are  often  made  of  me  about  General  Lee 
as  a  disciplinarian.  Never  was  there  a  body  of  young 
men  under  finer  control,  and  yet  there  was  never  any 
evidence  of  control.  General  Lee's  slightest  wish  was 
law  for  the  student  body.  We  all  honored  and  respected 


GENERAL  LEE  AND  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE          6 1 

him,  and  obeyed,  yet  no  word  was  ever  said  of  disci 
pline.  At  the  end  of  each  month,  a  list  of  names  was 
published  on  the  bulletin  board  with  the  request  to  call 
at  General  Lee's  office.  These  were  the  boys  who  were 
not  making  good,  either  in  class  standing  or  in  deport 
ment.  Each  one  was  interviewed  privately,  no  one  on 
the  outside  ever  knowing  what  passed.  It  was  the 
rarest  thing  that  a  student  needed  a  second  interview. 
In  a  few  instances,  young  men  were  quietly  sent  home, 
and  no  mention  made  of  it  in  public.  I  once  asked  a 
student  what  General  Lee  said  to  him  in  his  interview. 
He  declared  that  he  did  not  remember,  but  said  that 
he  talked  to  him  like  a  father.  He  said:  "I  was  so 
frightened  when  I  first  went  in  that  I  forgot  to  say 
'Good  morning/ ' 

About  the  only  mischief  the  boys  ever  got  into  was  an 
occasional  callithump  or  mock  serenade.  It  was  a 
noisy  time  sure  enough,  as  we  used  horns,  fifes,  tin  pans, 
bells  and  so  on.  The  entire  town  was  visited  and  the 
citizens  seemed  to  enjoy  it,  too.  No  property  was  ever 
damaged,  nobody  ever  hurt,  though  night  was  some 
times  made  hideous.  Innocent  pranks  were  often 
played  on  the  new  boys,  especially  by  the  "Sons  of 
Confucius."  However,  there  was  never  any  hazing. 

There  were  two  literary  societies,  the  Graham  and 
the  Washington.  I  belonged  to  the  former.  We  met 
every  Saturday  night  and  generally  closed  about 
twelve.  Some  of  the  boys  were  fine  debaters.  How  we 
boys  were  thrilled  by  the  eloquence  of  George  B.  Peters 
and  the  remarkable  logic  of  Clifton  Breckenridge !  The 


62       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

entire  student  body  belonged  to  these  societies  and  the 
deepest  interest  was  taken. 

There  were  four  churches  in  Lexington  then.  Gen 
eral  Lee,  by  the  way,  was  a  devout  Episcopalian. 
General  Pendleton  was  rector  of  the  Episcopal  church; 
Dr.  Samuel  Rogers  was  pastor  of  the  Methodist  church; 
Dr.  J.  William  Jones,  of  Confederate  fame,  was  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  church,  and  Dr.  John  Pratt  was  pastor  of 
the  Presbyterian  church.  The  Presbyterian  church  was 
the  largest.  Most  of  the  students  attended  it,  even 
those  belonging  to  other  denominations.  On  one 
occasion  General  Pendleton  at  a  vestry  meeting  com 
plained  to  General  Lee  that  the  Episcopal  students  did 
not  attend  their  church  as  they  should.  He  said,  "even 
my  son  goes  to  the  Presbyterian  church;  I  suppose  he  is 
attracted  by  Dr.  Pratt's  eloquence."  "I  rather  think," 
replied  General  Lee,  "  that  the  attraction  is  not  so  much 
Dr.  Pratt's  eloquence  as  it  is  Dr.  Pratt's  Grace,"  re 
ferring  to  his  attractive  daughter  of  that  name  who  was 
a  favorite  of  the  students.  Rev.  H.  Waddell  Pratt,  a 
worthy  son  of  a  noble  father,  is  now  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  in  Abbeville,  S.  C. 

Our  commencements  drew  immense  crowds;  the 
orator  was  always  a  man  of  national  fame.  R.  A. 
Holland  delivered  on  such  an  occasion  the  most  schol 
arly  address  I  ever  heard.  Sometimes  the  speakers 
eulogized  General  Lee;  this  was  always  offensive  to  him. 

In  personal  appearance,  General  Lee  was  a  fine 
specimen  of  Southern  manhood.  His  manner  was 
grave  and  dignified.  As  I  recall,  I  never  saw  him  laugh. 


GENERAL  LEE  AND  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE  63 

I  used  to  meet  him  daily  after  the  day's  work  was  over, 
mounted  on  his  old  gray  warhorse,  accompanied  by  his 
youngest  daughter,  Miss  Mildred.  As  they  passed  up 
the  streets  of  Lexington,  he  had  a  word  of  greeting  for 
every  one. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  last  time  I  saw  him.  Just  after 
commencement  in  June,  1869,  a  crowd  of  us  boarded  the 
stage,  about  nine  o'clock  at  night,  for  Goshen  where  we 
were  to  take  the  train  for  our  distant  homes.  The  stage 
stopped  in  front  of  the  Lee  home,  the  driver  informing 
us  that  one  of  General  Lee's  daughters  was  to  be  a 
passenger.  While  we  were  waiting,  the  other  boys 
decided  to  go  in  and  bid  General  Lee  good-bye,  I  alone 
remaining  in  the  stage.  He  met  them  and  invited  them 
in.  He  chatted  with  them  awhile,  then,  on  learning 
that  I  was  in  the  stage,  he  came  out  and  spent  the 
remainder  of  the  time  with  me.  Boy-like,  I  was  very 
proud  of  this. 

General  Lee  came  to  Washington  College  at  a  crisis, 
both  for  himself  and  for  the  college.  As  he  had  been 
impoverished  by  the  war,  his  property  confiscated,  his 
ancestral  home  at  Arlington  made  a  national  cemetery, 
it  was  necessary  that  he  seek  employment.  Numerous 
positions  were  offered  him  at  fine  salaries,  simply  for  the 
use  of  his  name.  But  he  turned  from  all  of  these.  He 
wanted  work,  not  charity.  In  Washington  College,  the 
man  and  the  opportunity  met.  Her  halls  were  empty, 
her  faculty  scattered,  her  treasury  empty,  her  equip 
ment  deficient.  At  this  crisis  General  Lee  came.  He 
opened  and  repaired  the  buildings,  gathered  a  faculty  of 


64       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

thoroughly  equipped  men,  and  then  waited  for  students. 
And  they  came,  from  every  part  of  the  South,  and  even 
from  the  North.  Under  his  wise  administration,  Wash 
ington  College  rose  from  the  ashes  of  her  poverty,  and 
from  a  small  denominational  college  grew  into  a  splen 
did  university,  the  inspiration  being  the  lofty  char 
acter  of  her  president.  While  I  was  there  a  magnificent 
chapel  was  built,  which  afterwards  became  the  "Lee 
Memorial  chapel."  His  office  was  in  the  basement,  near 
the  mausoleum  where  he  was  buried. 

To  the  few  of  my  schoolmates  left  I  send  greeting.  I 
have  pleasant  recollections  of  George  B.  Peters,  John 
Martin,  S.  R.  Cockrill,  Ruperto  Gonzales,  and  others. 
I  am  proud  of  the  fact  that  in  my  youth  I  came  in  touch 
with  Robert  E.  Lee,  great  in  war  and  sublime  in  peace. 


A  COLLEGE  BOY'S  OBSERVATION  OF 
GENERAL  LEE 

By  MR.  JOHN  B.  COLLYAR,  NASHVILLE,  TENN. 

The  following  contribution  was  published  in  the  Confederate  Veteran, 
I,  265  (1893).  It  is  here  reproduced  not  only  because  of  its  historical  in 
terest  but  because  the  volume  of  the  publication  in  which  it  appeared  is  no 
longer  accessible  to  the  general  public. — Editor. 

A  FEW  years  after  General  Lee  accepted  the 
presidency  of  the  then  Washington  College,  I 
was  sent  to  be  entered  in  the  preparatory 
department,  along  with  an  older  brother  who  was  to 
enter  college.  The  morning  after  we  reached  Lexington 
we  repaired  to  the  office  of  General  Lee,  situated  in  the 
college  building,  for  the  purpose  of  matriculation  and 
receiving  instructions  as  to  the  duties  devolving  upon  us 
as  students.  I  entered  the  office  with  reverential  awe, 
expecting  to  see  the  great  warrior,  whose  fame  then 
encircled  the  civilized  globe,  as  I  had  pictured  him  in  my 
own  imagination.  General  Lee  was  alone,  looking  over 
a  paper.  He  arose  as  we  entered,  and  received  us  with  a 
quiet,  gentlemanly  dignity  that  was  so  natural  and  easy 
and  kind  that  the  feeling  of  awe  left  me  at  the  threshold 
of  his  door.  General  Lee  had  but  one  manner  in  his 
intercourse  with  men.  It  was  the  same  to  the  peasant 
as  to  the  prince,  and  the  student  was  received  with  the 
easy  courtliness  that  would  have  been  bestowed  on  the 
greatest  imperial  dignitary  of  Europe. 


66       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

When  we  had  registered  my  brother  asked  the  Gen 
eral  for  a  copy  of  his  rules.  General  Lee  said  to  him, 
" Young  gentleman,  we  have  no  printed  rules.  We 
have  but  one  rule  here,  and  it  is  that  every  student  must 
be  a  gentleman.''  I  did  not,  until  after  years,  fully 
realize  the  comprehensiveness  of  his  remark,  and  how 
completely  it  covered  every  essential  rule  that  should 
govern  the  conduct  and  intercourse  of  men.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  could  define  the  impression  that  General 
Lee  left  on  my  mind  that  morning,  for  I  was  so  dis 
appointed  at  not  seeing  the  warrior  that  my  imagination 
had  pictured,  that  my  mind  was  left  in  a  confused  state 
of  inquiry  as  to  whether  he  was  the  man  whose  fame  had 
filled  the  world.  He  was  so  gentle,  kind,  and  almost 
motherly,  in  his  bearing,  that  I  thought  there  must  be 
some  mistake  about  it.  At  first  glance  General  Lee's 
countenance  was  stern,  but  the  moment  his  eye  met 
that  of  his  entering  guest  it  beamed  with  a  kindness  that 
at  once  established  easy  and  friendly  relations,  but  not 
familiar.  The  impression  he  made  on  me  was,  that  he 
was  never  familiar  with  any  man.* 

I  saw  General  Lee  every  day  during  the  session  in 
chapel  (for  he  never  missed  a  morning  service)  and 
passing  through  the  campus  to  and  from  his  home  to 
his  office.  He  rarely  spoke  to  any  one — occasionally 
would  say  something  to  one  of  the  boys  as  he  passed, 
but  never  more  than  a  word.  After  the  first  morning  in 

*  Dr.  Reid  White,  son  of  Professor  White  of  the  Washington  College 
faculty,  tells  me  that  whenever  his  father  was  asked  if  he  was  not  "intimate 
with  General  Lee,"  his  invariable  reply  was:  "No,  sir,  no  man  was  great 
enough  to  be  intimate  with  General  Lee." — Editor. 


A  COLLEGE  BOY'S  OBSERVATION  OF  GENERAL  LEE     67 

his  office  he  never  spoke  to  me  but  once.  He  stopped  me 
one  morning  as  I  was  passing  his  front  gate  and  asked 
how  I  was  getting  on  with  my  studies.  I  replied  to  his 
inquiry,  and  that  was  the  end  of  the  conversation.  He 
seemed  to  avoid  contact  with  men,  and  the  impression 
which  he  made  on  me,  seeing  him  every  day,  and  which 
has  since  clung  to  me,  strengthening  the  impression 
then  made,  was,  that  he  was  bowed  down  with  a  broken 
heart.  I  never  saw  a  sadder  expression  than  General 
Lee  carried  during  the  entire  time  I  was  there.  It 
looked  as  if  the  sorrow  of  a  whole  nation  had  been 
collected  in  his  countenance,  and  as  if  he  was  bearing 
the  grief  of  his  whole  people.  It  never  left  his  face,  but 
was  ever  there  to  keep  company  with  the  kindly  smile. 
He  impressed  me  as  being  the  most  modest  man  I 
ever  saw  in  his  contact  with  men.  History  records  how 
modestly  he  wore  his  honors,  but  I  refer  to  the  char 
acteristic  in  another  sense.  I  dare  say  no  man  ever 
offered  to  relate  a  story  of  questionable  delicacy  in  his 
presence.  His  very  bearing  and  presence  produced  an 
atmosphere  of  purity  that  would  have  repelled  the 
attempt.  As  for  any  thing  like  publicity,  notoriety  or 
display,  it  was  absolutely  painful  to  him.  Colonel  Ruff, 
the  old  gentleman  with  whom  I  boarded,  told  me  an 
anecdote  about  him  that  I  think  worth  preserving. 
General  Lee  brought  with  him  to  Lexington  the  old 
iron-gray  horse  that  he  rode  during  the  war.  A  few 
days  after  he  had  been  there  he  road  up  Main  street  on 
his  old  war  horse,  and  as  he  passed  up  the  street  the 
citizens  cheered  him.  After  passing  the  ordeal  he 


68       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

hurried  back  to  his  home  near  the  college.  .  .  .  He 
was  incapable  of  affectation.  The  demonstration  was 
simply  offensive  to  his  innate  modesty,  and  doubtless 
awakened  the  memories  of  the  past  that  seemed  to 
weigh  continually  on  his  heart.  The  old  iron-gray 
horse  was  the  privileged  character  at  General  Lee's 
home.  He  was  permitted  to  remain  in  the  front  yard 
where  the  grass  was  greenest  and  freshest,  notwith 
standing  the  flowers  and  shrubbery.  General  Lee  was 
more  demonstrative  toward  that  old  companion  in 
battle  than  seemed  to  be  in  his  nature  in  his  intercourse 
with  men.  I  have  often  seen  him,  as  he  would  enter  his 
front  gate,  leave  the  walk,  approach  the  old  horse,  and 
caress  him  for  a  minute  or  two  before  entering  his  front 
door,  as  though  they  bore  a  common  grief  in  their 
memory  of  the  past.* 

*  Mr.  Senseney,  the  village  blacksmith,  who  died  in  Lexington  in  Dec., 
1915,  told  the  editor  of  this  volume  that  General  Lee  always  took  Traveller 
to  the  shop  to  be  shod,  never  trusting  him  to  the  care  of  a  servant  while 
undergoing  this  ordeal.  As  the  faithful  old  war  horse  was  spirited  and  ner 
vous,  the  General  always  stood  by  his  side  while  he  was  being  shod,  talking 
to  him  and  enjoining  patience  on  the  part  of  the  blacksmith.  On  these  occa 
sions  the  General  would  say:  "Have  patience  with  Traveller;  he  was  made 
nervous  by  the  bursting  of  bombs  around  him  during  the  war." — Editor. 


AN   INCIDENT   IN  THE  LIFE  OF   GENERAL 

R.  E.  LEE 

By  J.  W.  EWING,  ROME,  GEORGIA 

ACY  incident  connected  with  the  life  of  the  great 
Lee  will,  I  apprehend,  be  of  interest   to  your 
readers.    The  writer,  in  his  young  manhood,  in 
company  with  many  others  was  a  student  at  Washing 
ton  College,  Lexington,  Virginia,  now  known  the  world 
over  as  Washington  and  Lee  University. 

The  great  soldier,  after  the  close  of  the  Civil  War,  had 
accepted  the  presidency  of  this  college,  and  his  name 
had  brought  from  all  parts  of  the  South  a  great  number 
of  the  youths, — among  them,  eleven  young  Tennesseans 
from  Nashville  and  its  vicinity.  Jno.  M.  Graham,  the 
father  of  our  John  and  Sam,  was  one  of  these.  We  had 
reached  Lexington  some  three  weeks  before  the  opening 
of  the  term  and  to  amuse  ourselves  determined  to  go 
over  to  the  Rockbridge  Baths,  a  famous  resort  in  that 
day,  under  the  management  of  Major  Harman. 

While  we  were  stopping  at  a  spring  on  the  side  of  the 
road  to  drink  and  rest,  who  should  ride  up  but  General 
Lee  on  old  "Traveller/'  He  stopped  and  asked  for  a 
drink.  We  introduced  ourselves  and  handed  him  the 
letters  of  introduction  we  had  brought  from  home, 
written  by  General  Ewell  and  other  of  his  former 
officers.  These  he  read  without  dismounting,  asked 


70       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

where  we  were  going  and  upon  being  told,  took  from  his 
pocket  an  envelope  and  resting  it  on  the  pummel  of  his 
saddle,  wrote  this  to  Major  Harman:  "My  Dear  Major. 
These  are  some  of  my  new  boys.  Please  take  care  of 
them.  Yours,  etc.  R.  E.  Lee."  Armed  with  this,  it's 
safe  to  say  that  nothing  was  too  good  for  us  during  our 
stay  at  the  Baths,  and  when  we  were  leaving  and  wanted 
to  pay  our  hotel  bill,  we  were  informed  by  the 
clerk  that  Major  Harman  had  told  him  we  owed 
nothing. 

After  the  term  opened  and  winter  had  set  in,  Graham, 
Allison,  Cockrill  and  I  rented  a  private  room  in  the 
college  buildings  where  we  could  study  and  keep  warm 
between  recitations.  We  would  each  in  turn  buy  a  load 
of  wood,  as  needed.  This  was  sawed  into  stove  lengths 
and  piled  up  in  the  corner  of  the  room.  The  winter  was 
a  bitter  one,  with  snow  on  the  ground  for  eleven  weeks 
successively.  It  had  been  Graham's  turn  to  buy  a  cord 
of  hickory.  This  was  disappearing  faster  than  ever.  So 
fast,  in  fact,  that  all  realized  our  stove  was  not  the  only 
one  that  was  being  fed.  The  college  wood  pile  was 
nearly  200  feet  from  the  building  and  the  janitor  lazy, 
and  Graham  had  his  suspicion.  He  selected  a  round 
hickory  stick,  bored  into  it  with  a  big  auger,  filled  the 
hole  with  powder  and  sealed  it  with  clay.  This  was  put 
back  on  the  wood  pile  by  Graham,  who  warned  us 
under  no  circumstances  to  put  that  particular  stick  in 
our  stove.  The  next  morning  early  there  was  a  tre 
mendous  explosion  in  the  room  of  the  professor  of 
modern  languages,  Dr.  Edward  S.  Joynes.  His  stove 


AN  INCIDENT  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  LEE  71 

was  blown  to  pieces  and  the  college  building  set  on  fire. 
Of  course,  it  created  something  of  a  sensation.* 

Before  the  services  in  chapel,  General  Lee  prefaced 
his  remarks  with  the  statement  that  the  faculty  had 
promulgated  no  rules  for  student  government,  that  each 
and  every  one  was  presumed  to  be  a  gentleman  and  that 
by  tacit  agreement  the  control  of  the  students  was  left 
to  the  student  body  and  the  individual  sense  of  honor 
of  each  student.  He  then  said  he  would  be  glad  to 
have  any  one  who  knew  about  the  explosion  call  at  his 
office  during  the  forenoon.  Graham  knew,  or  felt,  that 
it  was  his  "depth  charge"  that  had  done  the  work,  so  at 
his  request,  about  n  A.  M.  he  and  I  together  went  to 
the  General's  office. 

Lord  Wolseley,  the  commander  of  the  English  armies, 
was  in  Lexington,  where  he  had  come  to  pay  his  respects 
to  our  General.  Seeing  that  the  General  was  engaged, 
we  were  about  to  leave  when  we  were  called  back  and 
asked  to  take  seats  in  the  adjoining  room,  where  we 
could  hear  everything  that  was  said.  I  remember  the 
Englishman  asked  General  Lee  whom  he  thought  the 
greatest  military  genius  developed  by  the  war,  to  which 
General  Lee  answered  without  hesitation  "General 
N.  B.  Forrest,  of  Tennessee,  whom  I  have  never  met. 


*  The  following  interesting  corroborative  statement  is  taken  from  the  MS. 
Diary  of  Dr.  M.  W.  Humphreys:  "Tuesday,  Dec.  4,  (1866)  .  .  .  Joynes 
had  an  explosion  in  his  room  which  he  regarded  as  a  malicious  attempt  at  a 
great  crime  and  made  fuss  in  proportion;  but  it  turns  out  that  a  Mr.  Graham 
plugged  some  wood  with  powder  for  some  person  who  was  stealing  it  occa 
sionally,  and  the  negroes  stole  the  piece  and  put  it  in  Joynes'  fire-place — 
a  good  sell  for  Joynes." — Editor. 


72       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

He  accomplished  more  with  fewer  troops  than  any 
other  officer  on  either  side." 

When  Lord  Wolseley  took  his  departure  we  were 
called  in.  Graham  at  once  said:  "I  heard,  General, 
what  you  said  this  morning  before  chapel."  He  then 
told  about  his  missing  wood  and  the  course  he  had  pur 
sued  to  find  out  who  was  stealing  it,  winding  up  his 
remarks,  "But,  General,  I  didn't  know  that  it  was 
Prof.  Joynes." 

This  was  one  of  the  very  few  times  I've  seen  the 
General  laugh.  To  close  the  incident  he  said,  "Well, 
Mr.  Graham,  your  plan  to  find  out  who  was  taking 
your  wood  was  a  good  one,  but  your  powder  charge  was 
too  heavy.  The  next  time  use  less  powder." 

General  Lee  frequently  had  students  whom  he  knew 
at  his  home  to  tea.  His  family  made  no  false  preten 
sions,  but  lived  simply.  The  town  of  Lexington  in  my 
day  was  a  kind  of  Mecca  where  the  world  came  to  pay 
tribute  of  love  and  respect  to  the  living  Lee  and  the 
dead  Jackson.  This  little  town  in  the  Virginia  moun 
tains  is  now  the  resting  place  of  both. 

In  common  with  the  great  body  of  the  youths  of  the 
South  my  reverence  for  him  was  a  matter  of  inheritance. 
We  revered  his  name  little  short  of  worship,  and  three 
years  of  association  with  him  increased  rather  than 
diminished  this  feeling.  He  was  one  of  a  very  few  men 
I  have  known  who  impressed  me  as  being  GREAT.  I 
know  of  no  other  word  that  expresses  the  idea  I  wish 
to  convey. 

I  was  particularly  fortunate  in  having  been  armed 


AN  INCIDENT  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  LEE  73 

with  a  letter  of  introduction  from  General  Ewell,  who 
had  married  a  Nashville  lady,  and  whose  son,  Major 
Campbell  Brown,  was  a  particular  friend  of  the  Gen 
eral's  daughter,  Miss  Mildred.  This  gave  me  an  ac 
quaintance  with  the  family  that  made  it  very  pleasant 
to  a  boy  away  from  home,  and  I  have  always  felt 
honored  in  having  had  this  good  fortune.  This  ac 
quaintance  was  of  course  not  intimate,  but  gave  me  an 
insight  into  a  circle,  that  was  as  charming  as  it  was 
simple  and  unpretentious.  General  Lee  was  not  a  man 
who  carried  his  heart  upon  his  sleeve,  yet  he  had  the 
happy  faculty  of  making  those  around  him  at  ease  dur 
ing  his  hours  of  relaxation. 

I  think  I  can  safely  say,  without  fear  of  contradiction, 
that  he  was  both  beloved  and  revered  by  the  faculty, 
the  citizens  of  the  town,  and  the  entire  student  body. 

Probably  he  was  more  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  the 
Rector  of  Grace  Church,  who  had  been,  as  I  now  re 
member,  the  head  of  the  Artillery  Branch  of  the  Army 
of  Northern  Virginia,  than  with  any  one  else.  They  were 
often  seen  together,  walking  or  riding.  The  General 
was  a  most  regular  communicant  at  his  church,  which 
was  then  located  near  a  corner  of  the  college  campus. 

I  never  heard  of  any  code  of  laws  or  discipline  for  the 
student  body.  All  knew  they  were  regarded  as  gentle 
men,  and  this  feeling  acted  upon  the  students  and  in  its 
results  must  have  been  gratifying  to  him. 

All  felt  an  interest  in  old  "Traveller."  If  there  was 
ever  any  unbending  it  was  towards  this  old  horse.  They 
were  friends,  and  it  was  very  pretty  to  see  them  to- 


74      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

gether.  Old  Traveller  was  always  at  home  in  the  front 
yard,  and  acted  like  a  sentinel  on  guard.  One  could 
almost  say  that  the  toss  of  his  head,  whenever  the 
General  appeared,  was  both  a  military  salute  and  an 
expression  of  love  and  admiration  for  his  great  master. 
Certain  it  is  there  was  love  on  both  sides. 

In  this  I  do  not  pretend  to  give  you  an  analysis  of  one 
of  the  great  characters  of  history,  but  simply  the 
impressions  made  upon  one  of  the  many  youths  of  the 
South,  who  felt  and  still  feel  a  proprietary  interest  in  his 
greatness  and  immortality. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  GENERAL  ROBERT  E. 
LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION  AS  PRESIDENT  OF 
WASHINGTON  COLLEGE,  VIRGINIA 

By  EDWARD  CLIFFORD  GORDON,  St.  Louis,  Missouri 

The  Recollections  herewith  given  were,  for  the  most  part,  reduced  to  writ 
ing  soon  after  the  author's  official  connection  with  General  Lee  and  Washing 
ton  College  ceased.  Subsequently  they  were  enlarged  and  delivered  as  a 
lecture  in  Missouri.  For  the  publication  of  them,  now  authorized  by  the 
board  of  trustees  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  they  have  been  revised, 
and  a  few  interesting  incidents  and  anecdotes  omitted,  because  it  is  believed 
that  General  Lee  himself,  if  he  could  be  consulted,  would  so  advise  on  ac 
count  of  his  respect  for  the  wishes  of  others. 

SOME  years  before  the  Confederate  war,  South 
ern  Episcopalians  projected  what  at  that  time 
was  the  most  comprehensive  educational  scheme 
which    had    been    proposed    by    any  church  in  this 
country.     General    Winfield    Scott   was    asked   if  he 
knew  of  a  suitable  man  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
enterprise.     He   replied:   "Yes,   I   know   a  man   who 
would  suit,  but  you  cannot  get  him  because  the  army 
needs  him.    He  is  Colonel  Robert  E.  Lee  of  Virginia/' 

It  is  probable  that  General  Lee's  election  to  the 
presidency  of  Washington  College  may  be  traced  to  a 
remark  made  by  his  eldest  daughter  in  Staunton,  Vir 
ginia,  in  the  early  summer  of  1865,  in  the  presence  of 
Colonel  Bolivar  Christian,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  college.  Miss  Lee  said:  "The 


76       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

people  of  the  South  are  offering  my  father  everything 
but  work;  and  work  is  the  only  thing  he  will  accept  at 
their  hands."  So  far  as  I  can  learn,  Miss  Lee,  at  that 
time,  was  not  aware  of  Colonel  Christian's  connection 
with  the  college;  and  her  remark  was  not  made  with  any 
reference  to  the  vacant  presidency;  but  it  was  made  a 
short  time  before  a  meeting  of  the  trustees,  and  sug 
gested  to  Colonel  Christian  the  idea  of  securing  General 
Lee  for  that  position.  The  trustees  once  seized  of  the 
idea  did  not  rest  until  it  was  realized.  Judge  Brocken- 
brough,  then  rector  of  the  board,  was  sent  to  inform 
General  Lee  of  his  election;  and,  after  full  consideration, 
he  accepted  the  position.  In  October,  1865,  the  new 
president  rode  quietly  into  Lexington  on  his  favorite 
horse,  Traveller,  took  the  oath  of  office  and  entered 
upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 

The  hopes  of  the  trustees  were  soon  realized.  Money 
was  given  to  refit  the  college  buildings  and  grounds. 
Students  came  from  all  parts  of  the  South.  The  faculty 
was  increased;  extensive  additions  were  made  to  the 
courses  of  study,  to  the  apparatus  and  the  library;  and 
much  needed  improvements  to  the  campus  were  begun 
and  carried  on  according  to  a  well-considered  plan. 

During  two  years  of  General  Lee's  administration  I 
served  the  college  as  proctor,  secretary  to  the  faculty 
and  librarian;  and  one  year  as  treasurer.  I  was  also  a 
sort  of  secretary  to  the  president,  helping  him  with  his 
mail  and  otherwise  in  routine  matters  as  he  might 
direct.  But  I  must  add  that  General  Lee  answered 
most  of  his  letters  with  his  own  hand,  and  that  my 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          77 

duties  as  secretary  were  confined  chiefly  to  copying 
letters  in  an  old-fashioned  letter-press  book.  Still  I  was 
brought  into  daily  intercourse  with  the  president.  I  had 
many,  and  at  times  unusual,  opportunities  of  observing 
him  under  various  aspects  and  conditions,  and  of  com 
paring  him  with  other  men,  some  of  whom  were  dis 
tinguished  for  their  abilities  and  learning.  I  heard  him 
express  his  opinion  on  a  great  variety  of  subjects.  I 
saw  him  in  his  home,  in  the  privacy  of  his  office,  at  the 
meetings  of  the  faculty,  in  his  intercourse  with  the 
students,  on  the  commencement  platform.  After  two 
years  of  official  relationship  which  was  cordial  and 
pleasant  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  I  left  the 
college  to  pursue  my  professional  studies  with  the  con 
viction  that  in  all  the  elements  of  true  greatness  General 
Lee  was  far  in  advance  of  any  man  I  had  ever  known.  I 
have  known  many  great  and  good  men  since;  but  I 
have  had  no  good  reason  to  modify  the  judgment  I 
then  formed.  'If  extensive  knowledge,  if  far-seeing 
wisdom,  if  a  wondrous  self-control,  if  ability  to  manage 
great  enterprises  and  to  master  minute  details,  if  the 
spirit  of  meekness  and  of  self-sacrifice,  if  simplicity  in 
thought  and  speech,  if  courtesy  and  an  exquisite  sense 
of  honor,  if  ability  to  estimate  other  men  and  to  mold 
them  to  his  will,  are  elements  of  greatness,  then  General 
Lee  was,  and  is,  my  beau-ideal  of  the  highest  type  of 
Christian  gentleman.  I  may  add  that  this  is  the  esti 
mate  formed  of  him  by  all  who  were  so  fortunate  as  to 
know  him  intimately. 
Just  here  it  may  be  worth  while  to  correct  some 


78       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

popular  errors  in  regard  to  him.  First  as  to  his  size  and 
personal  appearace.  He  was  strikingly  handsome,  but 
not  a  very  large  man.  I  have  read  accounts  of  him 
which  described  him  as  being  over  six  feet  high  and 
weighing  over  two  hundred  pounds.  He  stood  five  feet 
and  eleven  inches  in  his  cavalry  boots.  His  maximum 
weight  was  one  hundred  and  seventy  pounds.  He 
carried  himself  very  erect;  had  broad  shoulders  and 
narrow  hips.  His  neck  was  short  and  very  thick,  form 
ing  a  fit  support  for  a  massive  head.  His  arms  were 
long,  his  hands  large  and  his  feet  small.  These  features 
gave  him  the  appearance  when  on  horseback  or  seated  at 
a  table  of  being  a  very  large  man.  The  same  impression 
is  made  by  half-length  photographs  of  him;  whereas, 
among  men  of  the  Scotch-Irish  race  in  the  Valley  of 
Virginia  where  I  knew  him,  he  was  constantly  over 
topped  by  men  taller  and  heavier  than  himself.  His 
clothes  were  always  well  fitting  and  extremely  neat.  He 
did  not  use  tobacco  in  any  form,  nor  partake  of  intoxi 
cating  liquors,  except  an  occasional  glass  of  wine.  He 
never  used  slang  nor  told  a  joke  which  his  wife  and 
daughters  might  not  have  listened  to  with  perfect 
propriety. 

It  is  also  supposed  by  many  that  General  Lee  was  a 
man  of  an  easy  temper,  naturally  calm,  mild  and  gentle, 
with  no  special  propensity  to  violent  expression.  This 
was  not  the  case.  He  had  unquestionably  great  deli 
cacy  and  tenderness  of  feeling,  constantly  manifested  in 
his  regard  for  animals,  his  love  for  children,  his  con 
sideration  for  the  distressed.  But  these  characteristics 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION  79 

were  combined  with  what  I  may  call  a  fierce  and  violent 
temper,  prone  to  intense  expression.  When  I  knew  him 
he  had  almost  perfect  control  of  this  temper;  but  in  the 
Confederate  Army  it  was  an  open  secret  that,  when  he 
was  organizing  Virginia's  forces  at  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  he  was  regarded  by  the  militia  and  other  colonels 
who  brought  their  regiments  to  Richmond  as  a  sort  of 
cf  bear/'  that  when  aroused  should  be  avoided  by  wise 
people.  It  is  also  certain  that  he  was  fond  of  war.  He 
deliberately  chose  the  career  of  a  soldier.  In  this 
respect  he  was  a  true  son  of  his  race.  He  plunged  with 
ardor  into  the  Mexican  war.  When  the  Federal  hosts 
were  driven  back  from  the  heights  of  Fredricksburg,  an 
officer  said  to  him:  "Isn't  it  splendid?"  He  replied: 
"Yes;  but  it  is  well  war  is  so  terrible,  or  we  would 
become  too  fond  of  it." 

There  was  one  peculiarity  of  his  temper  which  I,  as 
well  as  others,  had  occasion  to  observe.  It  constituted 
about  the  only  foible  in  his  character  which  I  could 
detect.  When  annoyed  by  visitors  or  others  he  gen 
erally  managed  to  allow  the  culprits  to  escape  without 
displaying  his  annoyance  in  any  way.  But  the  next 
comer,  unless  he  was  unusually  wary,  was  apt  to  catch 
the  fire.  I  once  suffered  vicariously  in  this  way.  It  was 
near  the  close  of  the  college  session;  and  he,  like  the  rest 
of  us  in  office,  was  very  busy.  Some  committee  waited 
on  him  soon  after  he  entered  his  office  in  the  morning; 
and,  after  transacting  their  business,  continued  to  sit 
and  talk  with  him.  About  dinner  time  they  went  away 
and  with  them  went  the  last  drop  of  the  president's 


8o      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

patience.  I  was  ignorant  of  the  precise  situation,  but 
also  rejoiced  at  their  departure  because  I  desired  to  ask 
a  favor  of  the  president.  The  letter-book  into  which 
were  copied  the  reports  and  letters  of  his  office  and 
mine  was  at  his  residence  for  his  use  at  night  in  the 
preparation  of  his  annual  report  to  the  board  of  trustees 
of  the  college.  I  needed  a  bit  of  information  from  that 
book;  and  as  General  Lee  was  the  kindest  man  in  the 
world,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  ask  him  to  make  a  memo 
randum  from  it  for  me.  But  I  made  my  request  at  an 
inauspicious  time.  He  said  to  me  very  sharply:  "I  do 
not  want  the  book;  you  can  come  and  get  it  whenever 
you  like."  I  at  once  discerned  that,  to  use  our  college 
slang,  he  had  been  "sat  upon"  by  that  committee,  and 
I  hastily  beat  a  retreat.  The  next  morning  when  I 
entered  his  office  he  said  in  his  kindest  manner:  "Mr. 
Gordon,  here  is  that  memorandum  you  asked  me  to 
make  for  you." 

It  is  well  known  that  General  Lee  was  distinguished 
for  mental  and  moral  courage  of  the  highest  order. 
This  was  conspicuously  displayed  in  more  than  one 
great  crisis  of  his  life.  It  is  not  so  well  known  that  he 
also  had  what  we  call  "nerve,"  or  physical  courage, 
which  never  failed  him.  This  was  signally  displayed  in 
his  personal  scouting  adventures  in  the  Mexican  war; 
and  also  to  his  staff  when  he  passed  from  safe  to  very 
dangerous  positions  in  the  terrific  battles  of  the  Confed 
erate  war.  One  of  these  staff  officers  told  me  he  could 
never  discover  by  any  word,  gesture  or  change  of 
countenance  on  the  part  of  General  Lee  that  he  had  any 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          8 1 

consciousness  of  personal  danger.  While  president  of 
the  college  he  had  a  somewhat  singular  adventure  which 
signally  displayed  his  "nerve."  Colonel  Ross  had  a  fine 
farm  near  Lexington  and  the  General  used  to  ride  out  to 
this  farm  and  talk  "farming"  with  his  friend.  The 
times  were  unsettled  and  Colonel  Ross  had  a  pack  of 
rather  vicious  dogs  to  protect  his  property  from  petty 
thieves.  These  dogs  were  usually  confined  during  the 
day,  and  turned  out  at  night.  One  afternoon  the 
Colonel  seated  in  his  hall  heard  these  dogs  barking  in 
his  front  yard.  Knowing  that  they  had  no  business 
there,  he  hurried  out  and  saw  this  scene:  General  Lee 
had  ridden  up  on  Traveller,  dismounted,  entered  the 
gate,  and  was  standing  with  his  back  to  the  gate,  con 
fronted  by  several  dogs,  the  largest  and  fiercest  of 
which  stood  on  his  hind  feet  with  his  front  feet  on  the 
General's  shoulders,  and  their  noses  not  six  inches  apart. 
The  General  stood  like  a  statue  calmly  looking  into 
the  dog's  eyes.  Colonel  Ross  called  and  beat  off  the 
dogs,  and  apologized  for  their  attack.  He  told  me  that 
General  Lee  was  entirely  unruffled.  He  playfully 
chided  him  for  not  keeping  his  dogs  tied  up  in  the 
daytime.  There  was  no  change  in  his  countenance; 
and,  in  the  opinion  of  his  host,  his  pulse  had  not  quick 
ened  one  beat  a  minute. 

This  remarkable  "nerve"  was  also  highly  expressed, 
in  my  opinion,  very  often  during  the  commencement 
exercises.  In  those  days  every  orator,  graduates  and 
visitors,  felt  called  upon  to  refer  to  our  President,  his 
career,  character  and  reputation.  The  adulations  at 


82       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

times  were  not  in  good  taste,  and  I  used  to  wonder  why 
he  did  not  issue  a  general  order  prohibiting  all  public 
references  to  himself.  Self-protection  is  said  to  be  the 
first  law  of  nature.  He  issued  no  such  order;  and  no  one 
could  tell  at  the  time  of  utterance  that  he  heard  the 
references  to  himself.  He  neither  smiled  nor  frowned. 
His  face  was  as  impassive  as  the  Sphinx.  Apparently 
the  orators  might  have  been  commenting  on  the  man  in 
the  moon.  But  he  did  hear;  and  privately  admonished 
the  young  orators  that  their  speeches  were  too  long; 
that  their  references  to  himself  were  distasteful  to  him; 
that  their  reflections  on  the  "Yankees"  would  provoke 
ill-feeling  and  might  injure  the  college;  that  their 
compliments  to  the  ladies  had  better  be  said  in  private. 

His  intellectual  powers  were  as  remarkable  as  his 
"nerve."  His  observation  was  keen,  minute  and 
accurate.  His  memory  was  marvelously  retentive,  and 
his  stores  of  knowledge  correspondingly  great  and  at  his 
instant  command.  He  could  look  at  a  mass  of 
mortar  and  at  once  detect  whether  it  had  too  much  or 
too  little  sand  or  lime  in  it.  If  a  step-stone  was  half  an 
inch  out  of  line  he  noticed  it.  He  remembered  every 
child  in  Lexington  whose  name  he  had  heard  and  whose 
face  he  had  seen.  It  seemed  to  me  he  knew  all  the  cows 
in  Lexington;  for  he  used  to  say  to  me,  when  he  saw 
cows  grazing  on  the  yet  unfenced  lawn  of  the  college,  "I 

wish  Mr. ,  and "  (others  whom  he  would  name), 

"would  keep  their  cows  at  home."  He  soon  came  to 
know  all  the  students  by  name  and  face,  their  class 
standing  and  general  reputation. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          83 

But  his  mind  was  not  burdened  with  details.  His 
plans  for  the  extension  of  the  college  were  comprehen 
sive  and  far  reaching.  All  the  resources  of  his  opulent 
knowledge,  of  his  varied  experience,  of  his  practical 
good  sense,  as  well  as  his  incessant  industry,  were 
fully  used  for  the  advancement  of  the  institution.  His 
wisdom,  his  ability  to  adapt  means  to  ends,  was  unsur 
passed.  I  have  known  men  who  knew  more  Latin, 
Greek,  mathematics  and  philosophy  than  he  did;  but  I 
never  knew  any  one  who  knew  men  as  well  as  he  did. 
There  was  something  uncanny  about  his  ability  to  read 
other  men's  thoughts.  Others  as  well  as  myself  ob 
served  this  remarkable  characteristic,  as  did  his  oppo 
nents  in  war.  It  was  a  common  saying  in  Lexington: 
"It  is  no  use  trying  to  throw  dust  into  Marse  Robert's 
eyes." 

One  proof  of  his  wisdom  was  his  unwillingness  to 
express  his  opinion  on  a  subject  which  he  had  not  care 
fully  considered.  On  subjects  which  he  had  considered 
he  was  the  most  dogmatic  of  men.  But  not  infre 
quently  at  the  meetings  of  the  faculty  he  would  say: 
"Gentlemen,  this  is  a  new  question  to  me;  I  cannot 
venture  an  opinion.  I  prefer  to  hear  what  Dr.  K.  or 
Col.  A.  or  Professor  M.  has  to  say  about  it."  In  every 
case  he  would  name  the  man  who  ought  to  have  been, 
and  who  generally  was,  most  familiar  with,  and  best 
informed  on,  the  subject  under  discussion.  The  same 
unerring  judgment  enabled  him  to  use  members  of  the 
faculty  in  dealing  with  the  students.  He  soon  came  to 
know  which  professor  had  most  influence  with  any 


84       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

particular  student  or  set  of  students,  and  the  leaders 
among  the  students  themselves. 

Here  it  may  be  said  that  the  rigor  of  military  disci 
pline  was  utterly  abandoned  as  impracticable  in  such  an 
institution  as  Washington  College;  and  the  principles 
of  truth,  honor,  courtesy  were  mainly  relied  on  to 
maintain  good  order.  There  was  no  attempt  at  com 
promise  between  two  systems  of  discipline  wholly 
incompatible  with  each  other.  At  the  same  time  both 
faculty  and  students  soon  learned  that  a  master  sat  in 
the  president's  office.  When  the  students  circulated  a 
petition  for  a  week's  holiday  at  Christmas,  instead  of 
one  day,  which  had  been  ordered;  and  when  this  petition 
had  been  denied  and  another  circulated  pledging  the 
signers  not  to  attend  lectures  during  the  Christmas 
week,  and  when  some  members  of  the  faculty  were 
disposed  to  yield  to  the  students'  demand,  the  president 
announced  that  any  student  whose  name  appeared  on 
that  paper  would  be  sent  home;  and  that  if  every 
student  signed  it,  the  college  would  be  closed  and  the 
key  to  the  door  placed  in  his  pocket.  There  is  a  tradi 
tion  that  lectures  during  that  Christmas  week  were 
well  attended. 

On  one  occasion  an  orator  of  the  radical  stripe  pro 
posed  to  address  a  political  meeting  which  would  be 
attended  mostly  by  negroes.  A  rumor  got  abroad 
that  the  orator  proposed  to  make  invidious  reflections 
on  General  Lee,  and  some  of  the  students  swore  that 
they  would  break  up  the  meeting.  The  president 
somehow  was  informed  as  to  the  situation.  Just  before 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          85 

the  dinner  hour  on  the  day  of  the  meeting  he  placed  in 
my  hands  the  names  of  a  dozen  or  more  students  with 
directions  to  see  them  all  as  soon  as  practicable  and 
instruct  them  to  report  to  him  at  his  office  promptly  at 
3:30  that  afternoon.  It  was  a  motley  array  of  names. 
Some  of  the  men  had  been  Confederate  soldiers;  some 
were  leaders  in  college  religious  work;  some  were  fore 
most  in  college  sports  and  pranks.  All,  for  various 
reasons,  were  surprised  at  the  summons,  but  they  all 
reported,  received  their  instructions,  and  not  a  student 
attended  that  meeting,  which  passed  off  as  orderly  as  a 
funeral  service. 

I  have  the  original  manuscript,  written  with  his  own 
hand  of  a  sort  of  general  order  or  appeal  addressed  to 
the  students  who  were  contemplating  an  April-fool 
celebration.  It  reads  as  follows: 

"The  faculty  have  learned  with  regret  that  some  of  the 
students  are  making  preparations  to  organize  a  tumul 
tuous  and  disorderly  procession  though  the  streets  of 
Lexington  on  the  eve  of  the  first  of  April.  Similar 
processions  have  heretofore  occasionally  occurred  and 
have  always  resulted  in  greatly  disturbing  the  good 
order  and  quiet  of  the  town;  in  alarming  and  disturbing 
the  sick;  in  the  wanton  destruction  of  property;  and  in 
endangering  human  life.  Those  who  have  participated 
in  or  witnessed  these  disturbances  are  asked  to  consider 
whether  such  proceedings  have  in  any  way  tended  to 
elevate  the  character  of  those  concerned  in  them,  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  community,  or  to  give  real 
pleasure  or  satisfaction  to  the  actors  themselves.  When 


86      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

students  of  a  college  engage  in  such  disorders,  it  injures 
them  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  sullies  the  reputation  of 
their  Alma  Mater,  and  tends  to  diminish  its  efficiency 
and  usefulness.  Such  conduct  can  only  proceed  from 
thoughtlessness  and  want  of  reflection,  and  the  Presi 
dent  earnestly  appeals  to  all  the  students  of  Washington 
College  to  avoid  such  assemblies  both  as  actors  and  as 
witnesses;  and  he  calls  upon  those  whose  character  and 
standing  justly  entitle  them  to  the  confidence  and  es 
teem  of  their  comrades  to  point  out  to  them  the  evil 
they  unintentionally  commit  against  their  college  and 
the  citizens  of  a  town  who  are  always  ready  to  promote 
their  pleasure  and  to  administer  to  their  comfort  and 
relief. 

"He  trusts,  therefore,  that  the  students  will  unite 
now  and  at  all  times  to  preserve  good  order  and  quiet  in 
the  community  in  which  they  dwell,  to  protect  the 
property  of  the  citizens,  and  to  maintain  the  fair  repu 
tation  of  Washington  College." 

By  such  means  as  these  our  President  maintained 
order  and  discipline.  Occasionally  there  were  pranks 
and  "calli thumps."  Among  four  hundred  students 
some  were  weak  and  some  were  wicked.  These  had  to 
be  admonished  or  suspended;  and  some,  now  and  then, 
had  to  be  sent  home.  This  last  phrase  was  the  Presi 
dent's  word  for  expulsion.  But  these  affairs  were  only 
ripples  on  the  even  flow  of  college  life.  There  was  no 
espionage;  little  or  no  cheating  at  recitations  and  exam 
inations.  If  a  man  were  caught  cheating,  his  life  was 
made  so  intolerable  by  the  students  that  he  was  glad  to 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          87 

go  home.  I  can  recall  but  one  such  case;  in  that  one 
the  guilt  of  the  student  was  doubtful  in  the  mind  of  the 
professor  whose  testimony  was  solicited  by  the  class. 

General  Lee's  wisdom  was  constantly  displayed  in  the 
management  of  his  personal  and  domestic  affairs.  His 
household  was  one  of  the  best  ordered  I  ever  knew.  He 
was  what  the  Virginia  farmers  called  "forehanded" 
both  as  to  plans  and  expenditures.  In  a  letter  to  me  in 
1868,  after  giving  some  directions  about  college  work,  he 
wrote:  " Should  you  see  Mr.  Womeldorf,  ask  him  if  he 
can  furnish  me  with  thirty  cords  of  hickory  as  he  did 
last  year."  He  had  a  great  fondness  for  seasoned  hick 
ory  wood  and  would  burn  no  other  when  he  could  get 
it.  Subsequently  he  wrote  me:  "  I  am  sorry  Mr.  Womel 
dorf  cannot  supply  me  with  wood.  I  prefer  hickory  to 
oak,  and  there  was  a  gentleman  whose  name  I  cannot 
recall  that  supplied  Mr.  Campbell  and  myself  with 
some  year  before  last.  If  he  or  any  one  can  furnish 
me  with  30  cords  of  seasoned  wood  at  a  fair  price,  please 
engage  it  for  me.  If  you  cannot  engage  hickory  engage 
some  oak.  I  prefer  red  to  white  oak." 

In  these  and  other  ways  he  sought  to  provide  for 
every  emergency.  In  order  to  protect  the  students 
from  excess  charges  for  wood  (it  was  before  the  days  of 
railroads  and  coal  in  Lexington),  he  had  a  woodyard, 
protected  by  a  high  fence,  set  off  and  filled  with  wood 
bought  at  a  moderate  price  in  the  summer  or  early  fall 
when  the  county  roads  were  in  good  order.  This  wood 
was  sawed  up  and  sold  to  the  students  at  actual  cost. 

Here  I  may  mention  his  keen  sense  of  the  fit,  the  be- 


88      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

coming,  the  beautiful.  This  sense  was  manifested  in 
many  ways:  in  his  clothes,  his  personal  neatness,  his 
dealings  with  other  men;  in  his  ideas  respecting  build 
ings  and  grounds.  Most  of  the  trees  which  now  adorn 
the  front  campus  were  planted  under  his  direction.  I 
once  asked  him  about  the  arrangement  of  these  trees. 
He  said:  "Not  in  rows:  Nature  never  plants  trees  in 
rows.  As  far  as  possible  imitate  Nature."  He  himself 
selected  many  of  the  spots  where  trees  were  planted. 
Similarly  as  to  colors.  We  had  to  build  a  fence  along 
the  front  campus  on  the  south  side.  It  was  and  is  now 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  parts  of  the  college  grounds; 
but,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  money,  it  had  to  be  a 
plain  board  fence.  I  consulted  him  about  the  color  to 
be  used  in  painting  the  fence.  He  said:  "A  fence  is  a 
blot  on  any  lawn.  We  must  have  a  fence;  but  select  a 
color  which  will  render  the  fence  as  inconspicuous  as 
possible:  one  that  will  harmonize  with  the  surrounding 
colors." 

It  is  well  known  that  General  Lee's  experience  as  an 
engineer  and  as  superintendent  of  the  West  Point 
Military  Academy,  fitted  him  to  discharge  his  adminis 
trative  duties  as  president  of  the  college  to  which  he 
devoted  himself.  He  taught  no  class,  but  personally 
overlooked  everything  that  went  on:  work  on  the 
buildings  and  grounds;  in  the  class  rooms;  at  the  exami 
nations,  as  well  as  to  the  matters  of  personal  and  general 
discipline.  He  himself  "toed  the  mark,"  and  he  in 
sisted  that  everybody  else  should  do  so.  This  remark 
suggests  some  observations  as  to  his  moral  qualities:  his 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          89 

sense  of  duty,  the  carefulness  with  which  he  responded 
to  its  call;  his  conscientiousness  and  his  courtesy  in 
his  dealings  with  others. 

I  shall  never  forget  my  first  interview  with  him. 
After  accepting  the  position  offered  me  by  the  college 
authorities  and  winding  up  the  business  in  which  I  had 
been  engaged,  I  reported  to  General  Lee  in  his  office. 
Somehow  I  got  the  notion  that  he  was  surprised  at  my 
youthful  appearance,  for  I  was  little  more  than  a  beard 
less  boy.  But  he  had  taken  me  on  the  representation  of 
men  who  knew  and  trusted  me  and  whom  he  knew  and 
trusted,  so  he  made  no  comments  on  my  appearance, 
and  proceeded  at  once  to  explain  to  me  my  duties 
especially  as  proctor.  He  then  said:  "The  first  thing 
for  you  to  do  is  to  see  Mr.  Shields  who  is  now  in  charge 
of  the  property  of  the  college  used  in  repairing  the 
buildings  and  improving  the  grounds.  Get  from  him  a 
complete  list  of  all  the  property  in  his  hands,  verify  it, 
then  give  him  a  receipt  for  it,  after  which  you  will  be 
responsible  for  it."  I  left  him  somewhat  oppressed  with 
a  sense  of  the  responsibilities  I  had  assumed  and  deter 
mined  to  "make  good"  if  it  were  possible  for  me  to  do 
so. 

Soon  we  began  to  lay  off  the  roads  and  walks  on  the 
front  campus  the  lines  of  which  are  now  about  the  same 
as  those  marked  out  by  General  Lee  himself.  In  "set 
ting"  the  broken  stones  on  these  walks  I  needed  a  maul. 
It  was  before  the  days  of  steam  rollers.  In  grading  the 
campus,  several  large  locust  trees  had  been  taken  up  by 
the  roots.  I  directed  two  of  the  workmen  to  saw  off  the 


90      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

butt  end  of  one  of  these  trees,  trim  it  up  into  the  shape  of 
a  maul,  and  have  its  base  rimmed  with  a  heavy  band  of 
iron.  In  a  day  or  two  the  maul  was  at  work.  General 
Lee  observed  it  and  said  to  me!  "Mr.  Gordon  that  is  a 
very  good  maul,  where  did  you  get  it?"  I  told  him,  and 
he  immediately  exclaimed:  "What!  Cut  up  one  of  those 
locust  trees  to  get  a  maul!  I  intended  that  tree  for  a 
gate  post.  You  might  have  got  a  maul  from  New  York, 
or  imported  one  from  Liverpool  at  less  cost."  That  was 
all  and  enough.  I  learned  a  lesson  which  I  have  never 
forgot,  and  which  I  have  endeavored  ever  since  to 
practice.  I  might  waste  my  own  property  if  I  chose  to 
do  so;  but  the  college  property  and  other  property  with 
which  I  was  charged  was  not  mine,  and  I  was  responsible 
for  its  best  practicable  use  down  to  the  smallest  par 
ticular. 

Another  incident  will  illustrate  his  uniform  courtesy 
and  regard  for  the  rights  and  feelings  of  others  even  in 
small  matters.  When  the  time  came  to  pay  for  those 
thirty  cords  of  hickory  wood  which  I  had  secured  for 
him,  he  had  me  go  with  the  man  who  had  furnished  it  to 
the  pile  in  the  back  yard  of  his  house  and  measure  it 
carefully,  and  then  make  the  needed  calculation  as  to 
the  amount  of  money  due  for  it.  Not  for  a  moment  did 
he  propose  that  his  own  estimate  was  to  be  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course. 

In  his  home  he  was  the  most  courteous  of  hosts.  I 
had  many  occasions  to  observe  this;  and  on  one  of  these 
I  was  particularly  impressed.  My  father  came  to 
Lexington  on  some  church  business  and  to  see  me;  and, 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION  91 

I  have  no  doubt,  to  see  General  Lee.  He  was  old  and 
very  deaf,  and  I  tried  to  persuade  him  to  give  up  his 
visit  to  the  president's  house.  But  he  insisted  and  I 
arranged  his  visit.  It  so  happened  on  that  evening  that 
there  was  a  number  of  other  guests.  All  the  members  of 
the  family  were  engaged,  and  so  General  Lee  himself 
undertook  to  entertain  my  father.  He  drew  him  to  one 
side,  sat  close  to  him  and  did  his  best  to  make  himself 
agreeable.  Here  I  may  tell  of  his  plan  to  dismiss  his 
guests  when  they  were  disposed  to  stay  too  late,  as  not 
infrequently  was  the  case.  I  have  known  professors  to 
ring  a  bell  at  ten  o'clock  in  order  to  indicate  to  guests 
that  the  hour  for  their  departure  had  arrived;  and,  on 
one  occasion,  I  learned  that  a  distinguished  colleague 
was  in  this  way  invited  to  leave.  General  Lee  did  not 
pursue  this  plan.  Two  rooms  in  his  home  were  devoted 
in  the  evenings  to  the  entertainment  of  guests.  These 
rooms  opened  to  each  other.  In  one,  the  dining  room, 
Mrs.  Lee  and  the  General  usually  sat  after  supper,  while 
the  front  room  was  occupied  by  the  younger  people.  It 
was  understood  that  every  visitor  would  spend  at  least 
a  few  minutes  with  the  heads  of  the  family,  whoever 
might  be  the  person  he  or  she  came  particularly  to  visit. 
When  ten  o'clock  came,  if  the  guests  seemed  indisposed 
to  leave,  the  General  would  come  into  the  front  room, 
sit  down  by  the  side  of  a  man  who  was  enjoying  a 
tete-a-tete  with  one  of  the  young  ladies.  In  a  moment  or 
two  she  would  join  Mrs.  Lee  in  the  dining  room.  The 
young  man  had  not  come  for  the  purpose  of  monopo 
lizing  the  General,  and  so  found  it  convenient  to  make 


92       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

his  bow  and  depart.  The  General,  then  proceeded  to 
employ  the  same  plan  with  another  man  until  it  was 
evident  to  all  that  the  president  thought  it  was  time 
for  sensible  people  to  go  to  bed.  I  may  add  that  some 
plan  to  dismiss  guests  in  a  polite  fashion  was  imperative, 
because  the  hour  for  the  family  breakfast  was  fixed 
unalterably  by  college  duties. 

General  Lee  had  great  natural  benevolence  and 
tenderness  of  feeling.  This  was  expressed  in  many 
ways.  His  salary  was  a  moderate  one;  prices  were  high; 
the  calls  on  the  hospitality  of  his  family  were  incessant. 
Yet  he  avoided  debt  and  his  gifts  to  the  poor  and  the 
church  were  large.  His  last  official  act  was  an  added 
gift  to  make  up  a  deficiency  in  his  pastor's  salary.  He 
himself  declined  gifts  except  from  his  near  kinsfolk  and 
his  most  intimate  friends.  In  1866  he  wrote  to  a  Balti 
more  firm:  "I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  kind 
offer  to  send  me  a  hat,  and  I  appreciate  most  highly  the 
motives  which  prompted  it.  When  so  many  are  desti 
tute,  I  dislike  to  have  more  than  I  actually  require,  and 
yet  am  unwilling  to  appear  insensible  to  your  sentiments 
of  friendship  and  sympathy.  I  have  a  very  good  hat, 
which  will  answer  my  purpose  the  whole  year,  and  I 
would,  therefore,  prefer  that  you  would  give  to  others 
what  I  really  do  not  require."  I  know  that  he  often 
wrote  similar  letters.  "Give,"  he  would  write,  "to  the 
Confederate  soldiers;  or,  if  you  wish,  to  the  college.  As 
for  myself,  I  have  enough  and  am  content." 

His  tenderness  of  feeling  was  expressed  towards 
animals.  He  was  very  fond  of  horses  and  of  Traveller. 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          93 

In  a  letter  to  me,  dated  Aug.  3rd,  1868,  he  wrote:  "How 
is  Traveller?  Tell  him  I  miss  him  dreadfully  and  have 
repented  of  our  separation  but  once  and  that  is  the 
whole  time  since  we  parted."  Later  he  wrote  me:  "I 
hope  Traveller  is  well  and  wants  for  nothing.  I  want 
him  more  than  ever  now  that  I  shall  be  alone."  * 

Here  I  may  mention  his  keen  sense  of  humor.  This 
enabled  him  to  contribute  to  the  enjoyment  of  his 
family  and  friends;  and  mildly,  though  keenly,  to  ad 
minister  rebuke.  To  illustrate:  In  1867  he  wrote  to  an 
absent  daughter:  "I  must  leave  to  your  sisters  a  de 
scription  of  all  the  gayeties  and  also  an  account  of  the 
'Reading  Club/  As  far  as  I  can  judge  it  is  a  great 
institution  for  the  discussion  of  apples  and  chestnuts, 
but  is  quite  innocent  of  the  pleasures  of  literature.  Our 
feline  companions  are  flourishing.  Young  Baxter  is 
growing  in  gracefulness  and  favor,  and  gives  cat-like 
evidence  of  future  worth.  He  indulges  in  the  fashion- 

*  Mrs.  S.  P.  Lee  tells  the  following  beautiful  story: 

"One  afternoon  in  July  .  .  .  the  General  rode  down  to  the  canal-boat 
landing  to  put  on  board  a  young  lady  who  had  been  visiting  his  daughters 
and  was  returning  home.  He  dismounted,  tied  Traveller  to  a  post,  and 
was  standing  on  the  boat  making  his  adieux,  when  some  one  called  out  that 
Traveller  was  loose.  Sure  enough,  the  gallant  gray  was  making  his  way 
up  the  road,  increasing  his  speed  as  a  number  of  boys  and  men  tried  to 
stop  him.  My  father  immediately  stepped  ashore,  called  to  the  crowd  to 
stand  still,  and  advancing  a  few  steps  gave  a  peculiar  low  whistle.  At  the 
first  sound,  Traveller  stopped  and  pricked  up  his  ears.  The  General  whistled 
a  second  time,  and  the  horse  with  a  glad  whinny  turned  and  trotted  quietly 
back  to  his  master,  who  patted  and  coaxed  him  before  tying  him  up  again. 
To  a  bystander  expressing  surprise  at  the  creature's  docility  the  General 
observed  that  he  did  not  see  how  any  man  could  ride  a  horse  for  any  length 
of  time  without  a  perfect  understanding  being  established  between  them." — 
Editor. 


94      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

able  color  of  moon-light-on-the-lake,  apparently  a  dingy 
hue  of  the  kitchen,  and  is  strictly  aristocratic  in  appear 
ance  and  conduct.  Tom,  surnamed  The  Ripper,  from 
the  manner  which  he  slaughters  our  enemies  the  rats 
and  mice,  is  admired  for  his  gravity  and  sobriety,  as 
well  as  his  strict  attention  to  the  pursuits  of  his  race. 
They  both  feel  your  absence  sorely.  Traveller  and  Cus- 
tis  are  both  well,  and  pursue  their  usual  dignified  gaits 
and  habits,  not  led  away  by  the  frivolous  entertain 
ments  of  lectures  and  concerts." 

In  a  letter  to  me  from  the  White  Sulphur  Springs  in 
the  summer  of  1868,  he  wrote:  "Tell  Misses  M.  and  N. 
that  I  am  greatly  alarmed  about  their  sister  E.  There 
is  a  young  Presbyterian  clergyman  just  arrived,  who  has 
taken  a  seat  by  her  at  table.  He  may  do  so  at  other 
times  too,  and  she  would  not  tell  me."  I  could  give  at 
second  hand  some  illustrations  of  his  use  of  humor  to 
administer  rebuke;  but,  as  a  negro  preacher  once  said  to 
his  master,  who  desired  him  to  preach  to  his  fellow  serv 
ants  on  the  Eighth  Commandment,  I  cannot  do  it 
because  it  "might  throw  a  coldness"  on  some  who  may 
read  these  recollections. 

I  pass  on  to  record  his  high  regard  for  what  was  just, 
right  and  honorable.  This,  as  is  well  known,  was 
manifested  in  the  highest  degree  when  in  1861  he  cast 
in  his  lot  with  Virginia  and  the  South.  He  could  not 
have  foreseen  the  world-wide  reputation  he  would 
achieve  as  a  soldier.  He  could  not  fail  to  foresee  the 
immense  losses,  financial  and  otherwise,  which  he  must 
inevitably  incur.  He  carefully  looked  over  the  whole 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          95 

situation  and  then  offered  himself  and  his  sword  to  his 
native  state,  because  he  honestly  believed  she  had  the 
right  to  choose  her  own  political  associations  and 
alliances.  Here  he  was  sustained  by  the  example  of  his 
own  heroic  father  and  those  who  stood  with  him  in  the 
break  between  England  and  her  American  colonies. 

These  same  high  and  noble  characteristics  were 
constantly  manifested  in  the  conduct  of  his  private 
business.  They  caused  him  to  refuse  over  and  over 
again  the  use  of  his  name  in  business  enterprises  after 
the  war  when  he  was  desirous  of  work  which  would 
enable  him  to  provide  for  his  family.  Large  sums  of 
money  were  offered  to  him  only  for  the  use  of  his  name. 
He  was  to  have  no  work,  no  trouble,  no  responsibility. 
It  was  the  absence  of  these  things  which  made  him  de 
cline  these  flattering  offers.  In  his  opinion  it  was  dis 
honest  to  lend  his  name  and  reputation  for  the  purpose 
of  inducing  his  friends  and  admirers  to  put  their  money 
into  a  business  over  which  he  was  to  have  no  control 
and  in  which  he  had  no  experience. 

This  delicate  sense  of  honor  gave  him  a  horror  of 
debt.  This  is  all  the  more  noticeable  because  he  was 
fond  of  elegance  of  every  sort:  fine  houses,  furniture, 
plate,  clothing,  ornaments,  horses,  equipage.  But  he 
could  and  did  deny  himself  and  his  family  the  enjoy 
ment  of  such  things  when  he  did  not  have  the  money  to 
buy  them.  I  have  seen  him  in  garments  which  many 
men  of  smaller  income  and  far  less  reputation  would 
have  been  unwilling  to  wear.  He  was  not  ashamed  to 
eat  a  plain  dinner  plainly  served  with  his  friends.  He 


96      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

impressed  these  ideas  and  habits  on  his  family.  Mrs. 
Lee's  usual  occupation  in  the  dining  room  I  have  men 
tioned  during  the  evenings  was  mending  her  husband's 
and  son's  underclothing.  After  I  became  a  minister,  I 
met  one  of  his  daughters  at  a  railway  station.  She  had 
a  basket  of  very  fine  pears,  on  the  beauty  of  which  I 
commented.  "Yes,"  she  said,  "they  are  nice  and  I 
would  offer  you  one;  but  I  have  just  enough  for  my 
dessert  to-morrow."  She  then  laughed  and  said:  "I 
want  this  inscribed  on  my  tombstone: 

*  Although  on  pleasure  she  was  bent, 
She  had  a  frugal  mind/  " 

This  keen  sense  of  honesty  and  honor,  this  abiding 
consciousness  of  perfect  rectitude  of  intention,  were,  I 
believe,  one  source  of  that  calm  courage  which  was  so 
characteristic  of  General  Lee.  He  was  no  stoic,  no 
haughty  patrician,  looking  down  upon  and  disregarding 
the  sentiments  of  others.  He  loved  his  fellow  men.  He 
desired  their  esteem;  but,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  he  had 
never  done  anything  of  which  he  was  ashamed  and 
which  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  conceal;  and  so  he 
never  feared  to  face  any  man  or  set  of  men:  not  even 
General  Grant  and  his  imposing  staff,  flushed  with 
victory,  at  Appomattox.  When  cross-examined  at 
President  Davis's  preliminary  trial  for  treason,  counsel 
for  the  United  States'  Government  tried  to  get  him  to 
exculpate  himself  by  seeking  to  make  the  Confederate 
President  responsible  for  the  war  and  General  Lee's 
conduct  of  it.  He  at  once  perceived  the  counsel's  de- 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          97 

sign.  He  admitted  that  President  Davis  was  the 
commander-in-chief  of  the  Confederate  army;  and,  of 
course,  was  often  consulted  by  him  and  other  officers. 
He  then  added:  "I  am  responsible  for  what  I  did;  and  I 
cannot  now  recall  any  important  movement  I  made 
which  I  would  not  have  made  had  I  acted  entirely  on  my 
own  responsibility." 

While  President  of  Washington  College  General  Lee 
met  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  the  Rev.  Doctor  Leyburn. 
Doctor  Leyburn  conveyed  to  him  a  pressing  invitation 
from  Mr.  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  who  had  made  a  very 
handsome  donation  to  the  college,  to  visit  him  in  New 
York.  General  Lee  felt  constrained  to  decline  the  invi 
tation;  and  somehow  Doctor  Leyburn  got  the  idea  that 
the  refusal  to  accept  it  was  due  to  General  Lee's  unwil 
lingness  to  incur  the  publicity  of  a  visit  to  New  York. 
He  endeavored  to  remove  this  fancied  objection  by 
showing  how  all  publicity  could  be  avoided.  An  apart 
ment  in  a  Pullman  car  could  be  reserved;  he  would 
arrive  in  New  York  in  the  morning;  he  would  be  met  by 
Mr.  McCormick  and  be  taken  at  once  to  his  home. 
When  the  General  understood  what  the  Doctor  meant, 
he  said:  "Oh,  Doctor,  I  couldn't  go  sneaking  into  New 
York  in  that  way.  When  I  go  there,  I'll  go  in  the  day 
time  and  like  a  man." 

The  supreme  test  of  a  man's  greatness  is  his  ability  to 
control  other  men;  to  draw  them  to  himself,  to  secure 
their  constant  loyalty,  to  have  them  execute  his  will. 
General  Lee  stood  this  test.  Unfortunately,  his  plans, 
committed  to  subordinates  for  execution,  were  not 


98       GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

always  executed  as  he  wished  and  directed;  but  his 
direct  influence  over  others  was  imperial.  It  was  con 
fined  to  no  class  and  limited  by  no  circumstances.  One 
of  his  sons  testified  that  when  a  boy  he  sometimes 
disobeyed  his  mother,  but  that  it  never  occurred  to  him 
to  disobey  his  father.  War  incidents  illustrate  this 
same  power.  It  was  felt  in  Lexington  by  proud  citizens, 
by  the  students,  by  the  faculty,  by  the  negro  man  who 
waited  on  him.  Perhaps  the  highest  illustration  of  this 
power  is  presented  in  the  fact  that  his  surrender  at 
Appomattox  brought  speedily  the  Confederate  War  to 
its  close.  For  a  brief  period  after  that  surrender  the 
Confederate  counsels  were  divided.  In  North  Carolina, 
as  President  Davis  and  his  cabinet  were  moving  south 
from  Richmond,  I  heard  him  say  in  a  public  address 
that  he  expected  soon  to  be  at  the  head  of  sixty  thou 
sand  troops.  Imagination  staggers  when  we  calmly 
consider  what  would  have  been  the  result  of  a  continued 
prosecution  of  the  war.  The  North  went  wild  over  the 
assassination  of  President  Lincoln.  Had  the  war  con 
tinued,  the  South  would  have  been  swept  with  fire  and 
sword  without  mercy,  and  to  the  North's  everlasting 
dishonor.  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams,  in  his  Lee's 
Centennial  Address,  has  testified  that  "from  that 
crown  of  sorrows  Lee  saved  the  country.  He  was  the 
one  man  in  the  Confederacy  who  could  exercise  decisive 
influence." 

These  recollections  of  General  Lee  would  be  incom 
plete  and  inaccurate  should  they  fail  to  emphasize  the 
Christian  elements  in  his  character.  He  was  born, 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION          99 

baptized  and  reared  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
and  represented  the  best  type  of  piety  in  that  com 
munion.  After  the  Mexican  War  he  was  "confirmed" 
by  Bishop  Johns  of  Virginia,  who  said  to  him  on  that 
occasion:  "If  you  will  be  as  faithful  as  a  soldier  of  the 
Cross  as  you  have  been  of  your  country,  when  your 
warfare  is  over  I  shall  covet  your  crown."  The  good 
bishop's  condition  was  fulfilled.  As  a  confirmed  Chris 
tian  he  served  God  with  the  same  unfaltering  devotion 
as  he  had  served  and  continued  to  serve  his  country. 
His  piety  was  of  the  Cavalier  type  rather  than  that  of 
the  Puritan;  but  it  was  unaffected  and  earnest.  He 
loved  and  honored  his  own  church  and  supported  it 
heartily  with  his  money  and  his  example.  As  has  been 
stated,  his  last  official  act  was  that  of  a  vestryman  of 
Grace  Church  in  Lexington.  But  he  sincerely  believed 
in,  loved  and  served  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour  and 
Lord;  and  he  respected  all  who  did.  If  there  were  no 
services  at  his  own  church  on  a  Sunday,  he  was  usually 
found  at  some  other  church.  He  studied  the  Bible  and 
was  a  man  of  prayer,  in  the  closet,  at  his  own  family 
altar,  in  public  worship.  Whoever,  whether  professor 
or  student,  was  absent  from  the  morning  chapel  service, 
he  was  always  present  unless  unavoidably  detained.* 
He  respected  piety  and  abhorred  cant.  On  one  occasion 
some  one  asked  his  opinion  as  to  the  practice  of  fasting 
during  Lent  and  at  other  times.  He  spoke  reverently  of 

*  General  Lee  invariably  occupied,  during  chapel  exercises,  the  seat  next 
to  the  wall  on  the  second  bench  from  the  rostrum  on  the  north  side  of  the 
main  floor  of  the  building. — Editor. 


100     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

the  church's  requirements  of  its  members  as  to  this 
practice,  but  added:  "The  best  way  for  most  of  us  is  to 
fast  from  our  sins  and  to  eat  what  is  good  for  us."  The 
religious  phase  of  his  character  may  be  summed  up  in 
three  short  sentences.  He  trusted  and  loved  God.  He 
loved  his  fellow  men.  He  believed  in  Jesus  Christ  as  his 
Saviour  and  Lord,  and  manifested  the  Christian  spirit 
towards  enemies  as  well  as  friends. 

Attention  has  been  called  to  his  self-conquest.  This 
was  chiefly  due  to  Christian  motive-power.  Intellec 
tually  he  was  cast  in  a  gigantic  mold.  Naturally  he 
was  possessed  of  strong  passions.  He  loved  excitement, 
especially  the  excitement  of  war.  He  loved  grandeur. 
But  all  these  appetites  and  powers  were  brought  under 
the  control  of  his  judgment  and  made  subservient  to  his 
Christian  faith.  This  made  him  habitually  unselfish 
and  ever  willing  to  sacrifice  himself  on  the  altar  of 
duty  and  in  the  service  of  his  fellows.  If  there  was  any 
thing  which  unfitted  him  for  the  leadership  of  a  great 
revolution  it  was  that  he  lacked  or  suppressed  that 
intense  ardor,  that  persistent  and  overpowering  energy 
and  determination,  which  comes  from  great  personal 
ambition,  and  which  prompts  men  to  use  any  means 
needed  to  secure  success.  He  would  not  use  his  in 
fluence  over  the  army  to  coerce  the  civil  government  of 
the  Confederate  States  and  compel  it  to  do  what  he 
thought  ought  to  be  done  in  order  to  secure  its  inde 
pendent  existence.  He  would  not  make  a  dictator  of 
himself.  He  would  not  violate  the  modern  usages  of  war 
in  laying  waste  his  enemy's  country  with  fire  and 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION         IOI 

sword.  All  this  may  detract  from  his  merits  as  a  soldier 
and  a  revolutionist.  It  immensely  exalts  his  character 
as  a  Christian.  He  would  not  do  what  his  enlightened 
conscience  told  him  was  wrong  to  save  either  himself  or 
his  country. 

During  and  after  the  war  General  Lee  manifested  in 
the  highest  degree  the  Christian  spirit  of  forgiveness. 
He  hated  all  wrong  and  wrongdoing  with  all  the  ardor 
of  his  intense  and  passionate  nature.  He  regarded  the 
attempt  of  the  federal  government  to  force  Virginia 
into  a  war  against  her  southern  neighbors  as  an  enor 
mous  political  wickedness,  to  be  resisted  at  whatever 
cost  of  blood  and  treasure.  Yet  he  cherished  no  senti 
ments  of  personal  hate  against  the  authors  and  pro 
moters  of  this  wickedness.  A  Greek  poet  has  said: 

"The  finest  mind  will  fall 

Beneath  misfortune's  stroke;  and,  stunned, 

Depart  from  its  sage  plan  of  action." 

This  was  not  the  case  with  General  Lee.  After  the 
war  he  was  indicted  for  treason  though  never  tried.  He 
would  have  been  punished  but  for  the  respect  General 
Grant  had  for  his  own  word  pledged  at  Appomattox. 
He  asked  for  amnesty.  It  was  refused.  He  died  a 
prisoner  of  war,  disfranchised,  in  a  country  which  gave 
the  right  of  suffrage  to  the  negro  who  could  neither  read 
nor  understand  its  laws,  and  to  aliens  who  could  not 
speak  its  language.  Yet  he  did  not  depart  from  his  sage 
plan  of  action.  One  day  a  man  asked  alms  at  his  door. 
He  gave  him  money;  and,  what  was  more,  a  kind  word. 
As  the  beggar  went  off,  he  pointed  to  him  and  said: 


102     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

"There  goes  one  of  our  old  soldiers.  True,  he  fought  on 
the  other  side,  but  we  must  not  remember  that  against 
him  now." 

Soon  after  the  passage  of  some  of  the  so-called  recon 
struction  acts,  so  objectionable  to  the  southern  people, 
two  of  the  college  professors  in  General  Lee's  office  con 
versed  with  him  about  them.  One  of  them  expressed 
himself  in  very  harsh  and  bitter  terms  against  the  domi 
nant  party  in  the  federal  government.  The  General 
took  from  his  table  some  sheets  from  a  manuscript 
which  formed  a  part  of  the  Memoirs  of  his  father  which 
he  was  preparing  for  publication,  and  read: 

"Learn  from  yon  orient  shell  to  love  thy  foe, 
And  store  with  pearls  the  hand  which  brings  thee  woe. 
Free,  like  yon  rock,  from  base  vindictive  pride, 
Emblase  with  gems  the  wrist  that  rends  thy  side. 
Mark  where  yon  tree  rewards  the  stoney  shower 
With  fruit  nectarious  or  the  balmy  flower. 
All  Nature  cries  aloud;  shall  man  do  less 
Than  heal  the  smiter  and  the  railer  bless." 

He  then  said:  "These  lines  are  a  translation  from  the 
pen  of  a  Mohammedan,  the  immortal  Hafiz.  Ought 
not  we,  who  profess  to  be  governed  by  the  principles  of 
Christ,  to  rise  at  least  to  the  standard  of  the  Mohamme 
dan  poet,  and  learn  to  forgive  our  enemies." 

Such  was  Robert  Edward  Lee:  a  man  great  and  good 
among  the  greatest  and  best  of  the  sons  of  men,  in  every 
position  and  in  every  respect  in  which  we  regard  him. 
His  most  intimate  friends,  his  bitterest  enemies,  sought 
in  vain  to  find  any  seriously  weak  spot  in  his  character, 
any  just  ground  for  serious  condemnation  of  his  con- 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION         103 

duct.     He  devoted  his  life,  his  matchless  abilities,  to 
impersonal  ends:  not  to  be  served  but  to  serve. 

"Vanquished,  he  was  yet  a  victor. 

To  honor  virtue  is  to  honor  him. 

To  reverence  wisdom  is  to  do  him  reverence. 

In  life  he  was  a  model  for  all  who  live; 

In  death  he  left  a  heritage  for  all. 

One  such  example  is  worth  more  to  earth 

Than  the  stained  triumph  often  thousand  Caesars." 

On  one  occasion  some  Confederate  soldiers  were 
gathered  about  a  camp  fire  discussing  the  Darwinian 
theory  of  evolution,  which  had  recently  been  brought  to 
their  attention.  After  a  variety  of  opinions  had  been 
expressed  about  this  famous  speculation,  one  of  the 
soldiers,  who  had  remained  silent,  delivered  his  as 
follows: 

"Well,  boys,  the  rest  of  us  may  have  been  developed 
from  monkeys,  but  I  tell  you  only  God  Almighty  could 
make  a  man  like  Marse  Robert." 

The  word  was  well  spoken,  because  General  Lee  gave 
convincing  evidence  that  he  was  a  "Twice-born  man." 
He  is  an  illustrious  example  of  those  whose  clear  moral 
judgments  no  glory  can  obscure;  whose  integrity  no  temp 
tation  can  corrupt.  He  is  an  epistle,  written  of  God  and 
designed  by  God  to  teach  the  people  of  this  country  that 
earthly  success  is  not  the  criterion  of  merit,  nor  the 
measure  of  true  greatness.  It  may  be  that  a  heart  as 
bold  as  his  led  the  charge  of  the  Confederates  up  the 
steeps  of  Gettysburg;  that  a  hand  as  skillful  as  his 
hurled  the  battalions  of  the  South  against  the  Federal 


104     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

right  wing  at  Chancellorsville.  But  when  the  wars  of 
factions  shall  succeed  the  war  of  principle;  when  true 
lovers  of  freedom  all  over  the  country  shall  be  called  on 
to  stand  together  in  order  to  make  good  a  common  cause 
against  tyranny,  whether  of  the  man  or  of  the  mob; 
then,  in  that  hour  of  supreme  trial,  will  brave  and  true 
men  earnestly  desire  and  fervently  pray  for  that  so 
briety  of  judgment,  that  self-control,  that  perfect  recti 
tude  of  intention,  that  patriotism,  that  heroic  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  which  were  so  •  splendidly  combined  in  the 
character  and  conduct  of  Lee. 

Among  the  books  which  he  left  behind  him  is  one 
which  there  can  be  no  doubt  his  family  fondly  cherish. 
It  is  a  translation  of  Homer's  Iliad  by  Philip  Stanhope 
Worsley,  a  distinguished  Fellow  of  Corpus  Christi 
College,  Oxford,  England.  Mr.  Worsley  belonged  to 
that  large  number  of  Englishmen,  comprising  some  of 
the  most  accomplished  men  of  that  country,  who 
sympathized  with  the  Confederate  States.  When  his 
translation  of  the  Iliad  was  published  he  sent  a  copy  to 
General  Lee.  On  the  fly  leaves  were  written  the  follow 
ing  words,  which  it  was  my  privilege  to  read  as  they 
were  traced  by  the  hand  of  the  author,  now  gone, 
like  General  Lee  himself,  to  that  tribunal  before  which 
the  questions  at  issue  between  the  North  American 
States  will  be  settled  by  the  All-Wise  God: 

"To  General  R.  E.  Lee,  the  most  stainless  of  living 
commanders,  and  except  in  fortune  the  greatest,  this 
volume  is  presented,  with  the  writer's  earnest  sympathy 
and  respectful  admiration; 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF  LEE'S  ADMINISTRATION         105 


'Oto?  yap  epvero  "l\iov  " 

The  grand  old  bard  that  never  dies, 
Receive  him  in  our  English  tongue. 
I  send  thee,  but  with  weeping  eyes, 
The  story  that  he  sung. 

Thy  Troy  is  fallen;  thy  dear  land 
Is  marred  beneath  the  spoiler's  heel. 
I  cannot  trust  my  trembling  hand 
To  write  the  things  I  feel. 

Ah!  Realm  of  tombs!  But  let  her  bear 
This  blazon  to  the  last  of  times: 
No  nation  rose  so  white  and  fair, 
Or  fell  so  pure  of  crimes. 

The  widow's  moan,  the  orphan's  wail 
Come  round  thee,  yet  in  truth  be  strong. 
Eternal  right,  though  all  else  fail, 
Can  never  be  made  wrong. 

An  angel's  heart,  an  angel's  mouth, ! 
Not  Homer's,  can  alone  for   me 
Hymn  well  the  great  Confederate  South 
Virginia  first,  and  Lee." 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI  " 

The  following  brief  contributions  were  sent  to  the  editor  by  more  than 
a  score  of  loyal  alumni  who  were  students  of  Washington  College  in  the 
five-year  period  of  General  Lee's  presidency.  The  numerous  incidents  and 
impressions  here  given  bear  testimony,  after  the  lapse  of  half  a  century,  to 
General  Lee's  ability  to  make  on  his  students  impressions  that  were  indelible 
and  uniformly  wholesome.  No  greater  tribute  could  be  paid  to  this  great 
college  executive  than  these  statements  from  men,  now  mature  in  years,  who 
since  their  college  days  have  come  in  contact  with  other  great  men  in  every 
section  of  our  country. — Editor. 

Rev.  W.  Strother  Jones,  St.  Thomas's  Church, 
New  York  City: 

That  he  [General  Lee]  was  the  greatest  man  this 
country  has  produced  I  have  no  doubt;  and  the  proud 
est  thing  in  my  life  is  that  I  have  seen,  talked  with  and 
shaken  hands  with  him.  I  do  not  believe  he  ever  forgot 
a  face  or  a  name,  or  the  locality  of  his  seeing  anyone 
and  the  circumstances.  My  roommate  shook  hands 
with  him  at  a  reception  in  Baltimore  in  which  were 
thousands,  but,  later,  coming  to  Lexington  and  re 
porting  to  the  General,  the  whole  past  was  recalled 
before  my  roommate  could  say  one  word. 

I  saw  him  riding  Traveller  the  last  time.  I  was  at  his 
funeral  and  recall  that  Traveller,  draped  in  black,  was 
led  immediately  behind  his  former  master.  I  was 
among  the  first  who  had  the  honor  of  guarding  his  office 
and  explaining  to  visitors  his  last  hours  there.  I  never 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  107 

knew  him  to  be  absent  from  chapel  service.  On  one 
occasion,  I  was  told,  that  the  General  was  noticed  as 
deeply  affected  on  coming  out  from  prayers  in  the 
chapel.  Some  one  ventured  to  ask,  "What  is  the 
matter,  General?"  To  which  he  replied:  "I  was  think 
ing  of  my  responsibility  to  Almighty  God  for  these 
hundreds  of  young  men." 

In  my  short  day  at  college  there  was  a  tradition  that 
four  young  men  from  New  Hampshire  were  among  the 
student  body  when  some  rather  forward  Southerners 
"of  the  baser  sort"  attempted  to  ridicule  them  by 
publicly  proclaiming  them  as  "Yankees"  and  "out  of 
their  element"  in  a  Southern  college.  This  coming  to 
the  attention  of  General  Lee  greatly  incensed  him.  He 
sent  for  all  whose  names  he  could  ascertain  and  de 
nounced  their  cowardice  and  gave  them  limited  time  to 
leave  college. 

Mr.  Mike  G.  Harman,  Kansas  City,  Missouri: 
In  September,  1870,  Col.  Wm.  Allan,  then  professor 
of  applied  mathematics,  my  boyhood  friend,  accom 
panied  me  to  the  office  of  General  Lee  and  introduced 
me.  General  Lee  turned  from  his  desk  in  his  swivel 
chair  (which  was  uncommon  at  that  day),  shook  hands 
with  me  and  asked  me  to  be  seated.  He  inquired 
for  my  father,  Major  John  A.  Harman,  whom  he  had 
specially  detailed  to  his  staff  as  chief  quartermaster 
for  the  Gettysburg  campaign,  asked  me  as  to  my 
studies  and  my  aims,  told  me  that  I  must  not  let  him 
lose  sight  of  me,  said  "Good  morning,"  bowed  and 


108     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

turned  to  his  desk.  Colonel  Allan,  seeing  my  embar 
rassment,  arose  and  we  left  the  office. 

I  met  the  General  at  the  chapel  a  number  of  times, 
always  saluted  and  to  my  great  delight,  he  always  said 
cc  Good  morning,  Mr.  Harman."  Later  I  learned  that  he 
knew  every  student  by  name  and  invariably  addressed 
them  personally  unless  there  were  several  together. 

Mrs.  Lee  sent  for  me  to  come  to  see  her.  When  I 
called  the  General  was  at  work  in  the  back  parlor  and 
did  not  join  in  the  conversation,  but  he  shook  hands 
with  me  when  I  left,  saying  "  Come  often  to  see  us." 

Mrs.  Lee  did  not  have  one  of  her  favorite  pictures 
when  I  left  Washington  and  Lee,  but  said  she  would 
send  me  one,  which  she  did  with  this  indorsement  in  her 
own  handwriting:  "To  my  young  friend,  Mike  G.  Har 
man, — Mary  Custis  Lee."  It  has  been  one  of  my  proud 
possessions  all  these  years. 

One  of  the  pleasures  of  my  life  was  that  I  knelt  at  the 
altar  of  Grace  Church,  Lexington,  Virginia,  on  the  first 
Sunday  in  October,  1870,  with  General  Lee. 

Rev.  Frank  Bell  Webb,  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Talladega,  Alabama: 

When  I  was  a  student  at  Washington  College,  I 
would  often  see  General  Lee  in  conversation  with  the 
janitor  of  the  grounds,  and  giving  him  instructions, 
evidently,  as  to  his  work  about  the  lawn  and  grounds. 
It  was  remarkable  to  see  him  thus  engaged,  when  he 
had  so  many  other  important  duties  to  meet.  I  had 
the  honor  of  being  a  dinner  guest  of  his,  on  my  return- 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  109 

visit  to  Lexington,  on  one  occasion;  and  I  was 
impressed  by  the  grace  and  ease  with  which  he  pre 
sided  as  a  host.  He  made  us  all  feel  at  home, — both 
the  young  and  older  men,  who  were  his  guests. 

As  far  as  I  know,  his  chief  recreation  was  horseback 
riding  every  afternoon;  and  many,  many  were  the 
afternoons  that  we  pedestrian  students  would  meet  him, 
as  he  was  out  for  his  five  or  six  miles  ride;  and  we  all 
invariably  lifted  our  hats  to  him,  which  he  responded  to 
with  a  smile  and  salute.  He  almost  always  rode  "Trav 
eller"  in  a  sweeping  walk,  and  sat  as  straight  as  an 
arrow  in  the  saddle;  and  our  boyish  eyes  always  viewed 
him  with  the  most  intense  admiration.  His  soldierly 
bearing  and  gentle  spirit  drew  it  from  us. 

Mr.  John  Blackmar,  Columbus,  Georgia: 
When  I  left  Columbus,  Georgia,  for  college  in  1868, 
General  R.  H.  Chilton  of  our  city  (a  friend  of  my 
father's),  who  was  General  Lee's  Aide-de-Camp  during 
the  war  gave  me  a  letter  of  introduction  to  General 
Lee.  He  received  me  very  kindly  and  I  was  fortunate 
in  enjoying  many  social  evenings  in  his  home  circle. 
Seeing  the  home  life  of  the  greatest  man  and  soldier 
the  world  has  ever  known,  I  was  much  impressed  by 
the  gentleness  and  simplicity  of  the  family,  the  General 
reading  his  books,  or  papers,  and  occasionally  making 
remarks.  Mrs.  Lee  in  her  roller  chair  coloring  photo 
graphs  or  doing  other  light  work,  I  a  boy  of  fifteen 
years,  off  to  the  side  talking  to  Miss  Agnes  and  Miss 
Mildred,  made  an  ideal  home  circle  I  will  never  forget. 


1 10     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

General  Lee  had  only  kindness  and  consideration  for 
the  boys  of  the  school  as  well  as  others.  Only  once  was 
I  called  before  him  for  a  lecture,  having  "cut"  recita 
tions  for  one  day.  When  asked  why,  I  said  "To  go 
hunting,"  he  said,  "Why  you  went  hunting  and  yester 
day  was  such  a  pretty  day,  and  you  would  kill  the  birds 
that  enjoy  the  day  so  much.  I  don't  think  I  would  do  so 
again."  That  was  all  of  the  lecture. 

When  leaving  for  home  at  the  end  of  the  session,  I 
called  on  General  Lee  to  secure  his  autograph  to  a 
photograph  of  himself.  Seeing  with  it  a  photograph  of 
Mrs.  Lee,  he  said  "Take  this  to  Mrs.  Lee  and  she  will 
sign  it  for  you." 

When  I  called  at  the  residence  Mrs.  Lee  asked  me  in, 
and  said:  "Though  an  old  woman  I  have  some  vanity 
and  I  do  not  wish  my  picture  to  go  to  your  people 
looking  that  way."  (The  photo  was  taken  with  a  light 
dress  only  showing  the  face  and  faint  outlines  of  the 
dress.)  "Leave  it  and  call  again  before  you  go  home." 
I  asked  her  if  she  could  give  me  something  of  the  Gen 
eral's  as  a  keepsake.  When  I  called  again  and  received 
the  picture  bearing  her  signature  I  found  to  my  delight 
that  she  had  painted  a  stand  at  the  side  with  a  vase  of 
flowers  which  brought  out  the  dress,  giving  its  outlines. 
She  also  gave  me  a  lock  of  General  Lee's  hair  in  an 
envelope  on  which  was  written  "General  Lee's  hair 
from  Mary  Custis  Lee"  saying,  "I  have  been  his  barber 
for  some  time,"  and  a  brass  button,  saying,  "this  was 
from  his  coat,  it  went  all  through  the  war  with  him." 

One  night  the  boys  had  gathered  on  the  campus  to 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  III 

initiate  a  new  student  in  the  "Sons  of  Confucius'*  when 
word  came  that  our  beloved  president  was  ill.  Nothing 
was  done,  but  we  all  separated  sadly  and  very  soon  after 
his  death  occurred. 

Mr.  C.  W.  Hedger,  Sweet  Springs,  Missouri: 
Of  all  men  I  have  ever  known,  I  think  General  R.  E. 
Lee  by  far  the  greatest  as  a  soldier,  a  citizen,  an  exec 
utive  officer  and  a  Christian  gentleman.    In  my  humble 
opinion  he  stands  without  a  superior.     As  president, 
he  displayed  distinguished  ability,  showing  his  great 
ness  of  soul  not  only  by  refusing  many  far  more  lu 
crative  positions  that  he  might  be  of  more  benefit  to 
the  rising  generation,  but  also  by  his  interest  in  all 
the  students,  financing  some  of  them  through  college, 
and  looking  after  their  physical,  mental,  moral,  and 
spiritual  welfare.     His  influence  over  the  whole  body 
of  students  was  remarkable.     To  illustrate,  the  boys 
once  had  planned  a  monster  calli thump,  but  on  the 
night  it  was  to  be  "pulled  off,"  Mr.  J.  Harvey  Mc- 
Cleary,  president  of  the  Graham  Lee  Society,  of  which 
I  was  a  member,  rose  from  his  chair  and  said:  "Gentle 
men,  nothing  doing  to-night,  Marse  Robert  says  not," 
and  every  boy  went  straight  home,  and  not  a  sound 
was  heard  to  disturb  the  quiet  of  the  town. 

I  have  often  seen  him  on  the  campus  or  on  the  street 
with  a  group  of  children  clinging  to  both  his  hands. 

In  discipline  he  was  firm  and  exacting,  but  kind  and 
just.  Socially,  he  was  very  genial,  cordial  and  very 
entertaining  in  conversation. 


112     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

I  boarded  a  short  time  in  the  home  of  the  widow 
Cameron  in  the  country  north  of  town  and  as  Traveller 
was  temporarily  kept  there,  he  made  regular  weekly 
visits  to  see  his  faithful  war  horse.  Traveller  was  a  dark 
iron-gray.  General  Lee  had  another  horse,  a  big  sorrel, 
named  Ajax. 

Dr.  T.  H.  Somerville,  Oxford,  Mississippi: 
After  the  War  of  Secession  the  generosity  of  a  kins 
man  afforded  me  the  privilege  of  selecting  a  college 
at  which  to  complete  my  education.  I  chose  Wash 
ington  College  because  of  my  admiration  for  General 
Lee  who  had  become  its  president.  At  Lexington  I 
found  many  who  had  followed  the  General  during  the 
eventful  years  of  the  war.  Among  them  was  Colonel 
Charles  T.  O'Farrell,  in  whose  hospitable  home  my 
student  friend  and  I  secured  board  and  lodging.  When 
we  returned  for  the  session  of  1869-70,  Colonel 
O'Farrell  had  leased  and  opened  the  Lexington  hotel. 
With  some  degree  of  hesitation  we  put  up  at  the  hotel, 
where  we  had  many  friends  and  had  a  pleasant  time. 

About  two  months  later,  however,  I  received  a  note 
from  General  Lee  containing  an  invitation  to  call  at  his 
office.  I  hid  the  note,  but  attended  promptly  to  the 
request.  The  General  received  me  kindly,  and  after  a 
few  remarks,  reminded  me  that  my  grades  were  not  as 
good  as  usual,  and  said  that  he  had  sent  for  me  to  talk 
the  matter  over.  I  admitted  that  the  marks  were  low, 
but,  as  I  remember,  ventured  the  opinion  that  they  were 
not  materially  below  my  former  grades.  He  thereupon 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  113 

took  from  the  drawer  of  his  table  several  cards  upon 
which  were  written  the  grades  for  the  current  term  and 
those  for  corresponding  months  of  the  former  session. 
I  admitted  the  damaging  contrast.  The  General  said  I 
should  have  known  it  was  against  the  rule  for  students 
to  board  at  a  hotel.  I  promised  to  make  a  change  with 
out  delay.  He  drew  from  the  same  drawer  a  small 
photograph  of  himself  on  which  he  wrote  his  name,  and 
then  gave  it  to  me. 

I  found  a  room  which  had  been  the  office  of  Major 
Dorman  in  the  court-yard,  and  boarded  at  the  home  of 
the  Misses  Waddell  nearby.  The  General  had  no  occa 
sion  to  summon  me  again.  I  still  have  the  photo  and 
autograph,  which  have  been  carefully  preserved  as 
mementos  of  the  visit. 

Rt.  Rev.  James  R.  Winchester,  Little  Rock,  Ar 
kansas: 

I  entered  Washington  College  in  the  fall  of  1869 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  to  the  great  President, 
Robert  E.  Lee.  I  went  into  his  presence  with  much 
timidity,  but  immediately  felt  from  the  warm  pressure 
of  his  hand,  and  the  loving  sympathy  that  flashed  from 
his  eye,  and  his  words  of  fatherly  counsel,  that  I  was 
blessed  indeed  in  having  the  privilege  of  matricu 
lating  as  one  of  his  students.  There  was  no  time  that 
he  ever  failed  to  recognize  me,  and  had  always  a  kindly 
word  of  cheer  to  say  at  the  right  moment.  There  will 
always  be  in  the  memory  of  the  students  who  attended 
chapel  services  the  inspiration  of  the  Christian  Presi- 


114     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

dent,  regularly  in  his  place;  and  also  in  the  Episcopal 
church  he  never  failed  to  be  present  in  his  pew  and 
take  part  in  the  services. 

One  of  the  proudest  moments  of  my  life,  as  a  student, 
was  during  an  examination  in  geometry  when  General 
Lee  was  present  at  the  oral  examination  and  listened 
with  interest  to  the  demonstration  which  I  was  fortu 
nately  able  to  give  perfectly.  His  smile  of  approval  was 
worth  more  than  the  class  distinction  that  year. 

General  Lee  knew  each  one  of  the  students  personally 
and  watched  his  college  career  with  a  fatherly  interest. 
In  those  days  Lexington  had  open  saloons,  and  some  of 
the  students  were  disposed  occasionally  to  pass  the 
bounds  of  sobriety,  but  General  Lee  knew  exactly  how 
to  bring  the  wandering  one  back  to  himself  with  a  high 
ideal  erected  in  his  mind.  May  I  cite  an  instance:  My 

friend ,  indulging  a  little  too  freely,  staggered  on  the 

street  when  he  noticed  the  splendid  horse,  "  Traveller," 
passing  by,  bearing  the  Hero  of  the  South.  He  imme 
diately  straightened  himself  hoping  he  might  have 
escaped  the  glance  of  the  eagle  eye.  Nearly  a  week 
passed  when  he  found  his  name  on  the  bulletin  board  in 
the  list  of  those  asked  to  call  at  the  president's  office. 
He  went  apprehensive  of  a  stern  rebuke.  General  Lee 
said:  "Mr—  — ,  I  had  occasion  to  write  to  your 
mother  some  time  ago  and  it  gave  me  great  pleasure  to 
tell  her  how  well  you  were  getting  along  in  college." 
This  kindly  greeting  threw  my  friend  entirely  off  his 
guard,  and  his  reply  was:  "I  trust  I  may  ever  live 
worthy  of  your  commendation."  The  General,  kindly 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  115 

looking  at  him  said:  "Mr. ,  did  it  ever  occur  to 

you  that  when  you  reach  middle  life  or  a  time  of  sick 
ness,  that  you  may  need  a  stimulant,  and  if  you  have 
accustomed  yourself  to  taking  stimulants  in  your  early 
life  it  will  require  so  much  more  to  have  the  desired 
effect  at  a  time  when  you  may  need  it?"  And  he  then 
suggested  how  much  better  it  would  be  if  he  would 
abstain  from  intoxicants  during  his  college  life.  My 
friend  spoke  of  it  in  after  years,  and  hanging  on  his  wall 
was  that  letter  the  General  had  written  to  his  mother. 
He  was  deeply  affected,  and  said  he  never  forgot  that 
interview,  which  was  a  benediction  to  his  whole  life. 

General  Lee  led  us  all  by  cords  of  love,  and  through 
him  the  great  honor  system  of  Washington  College  was 
established  and  universally  practiced.  At  the  end  of  the 
session  of  1869,  the  commencement  exercises  being  over, 
I  met  him  in  front  of  his  house,  and  though  I  was  one 
of  the  insignificant  freshmen  that  year,  he  knew  exactly 
what  I  had  done  in  my  class  work,  and  congratulated 
me  upon  my  success,  referred  to  my  mother  and  hoped 
I  would  find  her  well  upon  my  return  home. 

I  value  the  certificate  received  that  year,  when  I  com 
pleted  the  English  course,  bearing  his  signature,  beyond 
my  degrees  of  later  years.  I  also  treasure  the  same  kind 
of  letter  alluded  to  above  to  my  mother  which  she  gave 
me  to  keep  as  a  special  treasure. 

General  Lee  as  college  president  was  great  because  of 
his  sympathetic  touch,  and  because  he  understood 
boy  life. 

The  greatest  blessing  that  ever  came  to  my  educa- 


Il6     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

tional  life  was  the  course  of  study  under  such  a  leader  at 
Washington  College,  afterwards  Washington  and  Lee 
University.  And  I  learned  to  love  his  son  and  successor 
in  office,  General  Custis  Lee,  with  the  same  affection 
that  I  felt  for  his  father. 

Mr.  Hubbard  G.  Carl  ton,  Richmond,  Virginia: 
General  Lee's  interest  in  the  student  body,  in  my 
judgment  and  experience,  was  the  crowning  feature 
of  his  administration.  What  could  be  more  vital  to 
the  hundreds  of  students,  composed  of  youths — some 
mere  boys — young  men,  and  battle-scarred  veterans 
who  had  fought  under  him,  than  the  parental  interest 
he  felt  and  showed  to  all  alike?  To  the  youth  he  was 
indeed  a  father,  gently  admonishing,  if  wayward,  en 
couraging,  if  backward,  and  praising,  if  successful, — 
always  mindful  of  our  moral  and  physical  welfare. 
To  the  mature  he  was  both  friend  and  counselor, 
exercising  the  same  watchful  care — encouraging,  com 
plimenting,  and  admonishing,  if  necessary.  To  all 
he  was  the  same^  a  peerless  model,  influencing  by  wise 
precept  and  noble  example. 

Among  the  incidents  in  my  four  years  of  college  life, 
few  were  brighter  than  his  annual  letter  to  my  father  at 
the  close  of  each  session.  At  first  he  used  to  write  these 
himself.  Later,  they  were  written  by  the  clerk  of  the 
faculty,  but  General  Lee  always  signed  them, — thus 
showing  his  personal  interest.  Though  fifty  years  have 
passed,  I  still  hold  and  prize  them  among  my  brightest 
jewels. 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  117 

To  his  unfailing  interest  in  the  student  body  I  owe 
my  "degree."  Becoming  discouraged  in  "math,"  I 
gave  up  algebra  and  geometry.  General  Lee,  ever 
watchful  and  interested,  soon  discovered  this  and  sent 
for  me.  In  the  interview,  he  emphasized  the  great 
importance  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  mathematics, 
and  in  his  usual  gentle  way  advised  and  urged  me  to 
reconsider  the  matter.  I  could  but  yield — and  was 
richly  rewarded  when,  three  years  later,  June,  1870,  in 
the  dear  little  chapel,  erected  to  him,  and  to  which  his 
mausoleum  was  soon  to  be  added,  I  received  from  his 
hands  my  A.  B.  diploma. 

Mr.  Graham  Robinson,  Lexington,  Virginia: 
I  was  a  student  under  him  for  three  years,  1868  to 
1871,  and  saw  him  frequently,  but  as  a  boy  of  16  years 
did  not  appreciate  at  that  time  the  privilege  I  enjoyed 
and  was  not  old  enough  to  note  the  great  qualities  he 
possessed. 

I  remember  only  trivial  matters  in  connection  with 
him — that  he  always  recognized  us  boys  when  he  met  us 
on  his  strolls  through  the  town  or  the  grounds  of  the 
college  and  called  us  all  by  name.  It  seemed  remarkable 
to  me  that  he  was  able  to  remember  our  faces  and  names 
among  as  many  as  four  hundred  and  ten  students.  I 
also  recall  that  his  custom  was  to  write  to  the  parent  of 
each  boy  a  letter,  sometimes  in  his  own  handwriting, 
about  once  a  year,  concerning  the  young  man's  conduct, 
and  that  he  wrote  such  a  letter  to  my  father  commend 
ing  me  for  good  conduct,  etc. 


Il8     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

His  method  of  discipline  was  kind  and  parental,  and  if 
any  one  of  us  committed  any  offense  he  was  summoned 
before  the  General  for  reproof,  and  while  I,  myself,  do 
not  remember  being  called  before  him,  I  have  heard  the 
experience  of  other  boys  who  were.  He,  they  said,  spoke 
kindly  to  them,  gave  them  good  advice  and  was  so  kind 
and  fatherly  that  the  boys  never  again  gave  him  cause 
to  reprove  them. 

He  had  a  custom  of  inviting  us  in  batches  of  four  or 
five  to  his  home  for  "tea"  (as  it  was  then  called)  and  I 
remember  very  distinctly  an  evening  spent  there  when 
we  met  Mrs.  Lee  and  his  daughters,  Miss  Mildred  and 
Miss  Agnes,  and  the  General  entertained  us  with  such 
talk  as  one  would  expect  under  the  circumstances,  and 
as  a  boy  I  recall  that  they  gave  us  as  refreshments  the 
finest  pecans  I  have  ever  seen,  which  were  sent  to  the 
General  by  some  admirer. 

Rev.  Robert  H.  Fleming,  Baltimore,  Maryland: 
There  stands  on  the  mantle  in  my  room  at  Hills- 
dale — framed,  "R.  H.  Fleming  has  permission  to  be 
absent  from  his  recitations  to-day.  R.  E.  Lee,  Pres." 
I  met  General  Lee  at  the  entrance  to  the  chapel,  stated 
why  I  wished  to  be  absent.  "Certainly,  Mr.  Fleming," 
he  replied,  "  You  write  it  and  I'll  sign  it."  On  a  leaf  torn 
out  of  my  scratch  pad  I  wrote  the  above  and  General 
Lee  signed  it. 

John  S.  VanMeter  of  New  York  and  I  were  the  first 
students  assigned  by  Prof.  White,  as  a  Guard  of  Honor 
in  General  Lee's  study,  immediately  after  his  death. 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  119 

Rev.  William  Boyle,  Presbyterian  Church,  Liver- 
more,  Iowa: 

I  entered  the  University  in  the  fall  of  1870,  and 
spent  four  years  there,  graduating  in  1873,  and  spend 
ing  another  year  in  the  prosecution  of  some  special 
studies.  General  Lee  died,  if  my  memory  serves  me 
right,  just  two  or  three  months  after  I  went  there. 
I  regret  that  for  some  reason  or  other,  I  was  never 
introduced  to  him  personally.  I  saw  him,  of  course, 
at  chapel  exercises,  or  riding  around  the  environs  on 
his  white  horse,  or  wheeling  his  wife  back  and  forth 
on  the  veranda  at  his  home. 

The  funeral  exercises  in  front  of  the  Lee  chapel  have 
lingered  in  my  mind,  closing  with  the  hymn,  "How  firm 
a  foundation  ye  saints  of  the  Lord." 

The  institution  of  the  code  of  honor  in  connection 
with  examination  exercises  is,  of  course,  well  known,  I 
presume  it  still  continues  in  the  university.  It  had  a 
tremendous  influence  on  the  students.  I  remember  that 
on  one  occasion,  when  a  young  man  had  violated  his 
pledge,  and  it  became  publicly  known  to  the  students,  a 
mass  meeting  was  called,  and  a  resolution  passed  not  to 
have  anything  more  to  do  with  him  as  long  as  he  re 
mained  in  the  university.  He  tarried  only  two  days 
after  that. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Hamilton,  Staunton,  Virginia: 
When    I    applied    for   matriculation    in    September, 
1866,  he  asked  me  what  studies  I  wished  to  take  and 
I  told  him  Latin,  Greek,  and  mathematics,  he  expressed 


120     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

his    approval    and    gratification    at    the    selection    of 
studies  that  I  had  made. 

I  regard  him  as  the  noblest  specimen  of  manhood  I 
ever  came  in  contact  with.  I  often  mention  with  pride 
that  I  received  my  diploma  from  his  hands  in  June, 
1870. 

Mr.  Jo  Lane  Stern,  Richmond,  Virginia: 
In  the  winter  of  '69-70  General  Lee  went  South 
with  Miss  Agnes  for  his  health.  Miss  Mary  sent  for 
me  one  day  and  told  me  if  I  would  go  out  to  Dr.  Ruff- 
ner's  farm  for  some  celery  to  be  used  in  the  salad  at 
the  Episcopal  church  fair,  then  going  on,  I  might  ride 
old  Traveller,  the  General's  war  horse.  Bargain  was 
never  sooner  made,  and  in  a  few  minutes  I  was  mounted, 
and  with  the  General's  saddle  and  bridle.  When  I 
got  to  the  courthouse  corner  a  lot  of  students  on  the 
street  saw  me,  and  immediately  gave  chase  in  order  to 
share  my  glory,  but  I  was  selfish  and  Traveller  was 
too  fleet  of  foot  for  them. 

While  the  people  at  Dr.  Ruffner's  were  getting  the 
celery  I  was  pulling  out  handfuls  of  Traveller's  mane 
and  tail,  and  had  pockets  full  when  I  came  back.  Some 
vandal  stole  it  from  me  years  afterwards,  but  the  mem 
ory  of  being  the  only  person  outside  of  the  Lee  family  as 
far  as  I  ever  knew,  to  ride  Traveller  abides  with  me  still. 

Mr.  Willa  Viley,  Wiley,  Georgia: 
As  to  my  dear  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  what  can  I 
say?    He  was  almost  a  second  father  to  me.    I  do  not 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  121 

know  how  to  express  my  deep  admiration  for  him.  I 
was  not  there  when  he  became  connected  with  the 
university.  To  me  he  was  the  grandest  of  men.  His 
unobtrusive  demeanor;  his  dignity  and  gentleness;  his 
firmness  in  and  devotion  to  principle,  elevated,  graced 
and  gave  dignity  to  official  and  personal  associations. 

Mr.  Albert  L.  Rees,  Savannah,  Georgia: 

I  don't  know  of  anything  I  could  write  about  General 
Lee  that  would  aid  you  in  your  work,  or  that  could 
possibly  make  Southerners  think  any  more  of  him 
than  they  do.  He  was,  in  my  opinion,  the  greatest  man 
that  ever  lived.  His  private  life  was  as  great  or  pos 
sibly  greater  than  was  his  public  life. 

I  have  a  letter  written  by  him,  dated  February  6, 
1867,  to  my  mother  about  me,  which  I  prize  most 
highly.  When  in  Lexington,  as  a  student,  I  boarded 
with  the  family  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wm.  McElwee,  the 
place  secured  for  me  by  General  Lee.  Mrs.  McElwee, 
who  visited  the  Lees  took  me  with  her  on  several 
occasions  and  in  this  way  I  met  Mrs.  Lee  and  the  Misses 
Mildred  and  Agnes  Lee.  I  have  a  daughter  whose 
name  is  Mildred  Lee  Rees.  I  could  talk  an  hour  or 
more  on  this  subject,  but  don't  know  how  to  write. 

If  I  remember  correctly,  and  I  think  I  do,  General 
Lee  never  issued  an  order  to  or  for  the  students,  but  we 
would  find  on  the  bulletin  board,  "General  Lee  requests 
the  students  to  do  or  not  to  do  such  and  such  a  thing," 
always  in  the  form  of  a  request,  and  with  the  students, 
a  request  from  him  was  Law. 


122     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

J.  Parry  McCluer,  Superintendent  City  Schools, 
Buena  Vista,  Virginia: 

The  first  impression  made  on  me  during  my  student 
life  under  General  Lee  was  his  knowledge  of  the  boys; 
not  only  their  names  but  their  home  and  family  ties. 
When  he  met  us  on  the  street  or  campus,  he  not  only 
recognized  us  as  students,  but  called  us  by  name. 
When  I  asked  for  leave  of  absence,  if  he  thought  it 
best  that  I  should  go  at  that  time,  he  would  write  on 
my  application,  "Granted,  R.  E.  Lee."  He  would 
then  express  a  wish  that  I  might  find  my  father  and 
mother  well  and  that  I  might  enjoy  my  visit. 

On  April  ist  of  one  of  the  years  I  spent  at  college, 
there  was  an  incident  which  showed  clearly  the  in 
fluence  he  had  on  the  boys,  and  the  respect  they  had 
for  his  wishes.  All  arrangements  were  made  by  the 
"fast  set"  to  have  a  big  "calli thump."  This  was  done 
several  days  ahead.  When  we  went  to  college  that 
morning  we  found  on  the  bulletin  board  something 
like  this:  "The  young  gentlemen  will  please  not  make 
any  unusual  noise  to-night,  as  there  are  quite  a  number 
of  sick  people  in  town.  R.  E.  Lee."  So  far  as  I  know, 
not  a  boy  tried  to  carry  out  the  program. 

Mr.  James  H.  McCown,  Lexington,  Virginia: 
I  became  a  student  at  Washington  College  in  Septem 
ber,  1870,  going  from  my  home  every  day  to  college,  a 
distance  of  between  five  and  six  miles.  I  kept  this  up 
until  after  General  Lee's  death,  when  I  decided  to 
board  in  town.  I  saw  General  Lee  only  a  few  times 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  123 

before  his  death,  when  he  was  out  on  the  campus, 
and  hence  my  opportunities  of  learning  anything 
about  him  were  very  limited. 

He  showed  his  interest  in  me  as  a  student  by  writing 
a  letter  to  my  father,  commending  my  work  as  a  stu 
dent,  as  I  am  told  by  a  member  of  the  family.  This 
letter  was  not  preserved,  and  I  never  saw  it,  very  much 
to  my  regret  now.  I  presume  he  wrote  to  the  parents 
of  other  boys  in  the  same  way. 

I  was  in  the  class  room  under  Professor  Milton  W. 
Humphreys  as  teacher,  at  the  moment  of  his  death  and 
I  distinctly  remember  the  feeling  of  awe  and  solemnity 
that  seemed  to  spread  over  the  class  when  the  news 
was  brought  to  the  class  that  General  Lee  had  passed 
away. 

Mr.  John  F.  Ponder,  Los  Angeles,  California: 
When  I  entered  college  I  was  a  bashful,  unsophis 
ticated  youth,  having  received  most  of  my  previous 
education  from  tutors  at  my  home.  I  was  unaccus 
tomed  to  many  companions  and  had  a  further  handicap 
of  poor  health.  So,  owing  to  my  bashfulness  and  poor 
health,  I  did  not  mingle  with  the  others  to  the  extent 
that  would  probably  have  furnished  many  varied 
experiences. 

The  students  and  entire  population  of  Lexington 
had  not  only  the  highest  respect  but  the  deepest  love 
for  General  Lee.  One  cause  for  this  was  the  very  real 
interest  he  took  in  everyone.  I  well  remember  my  own 
feeling  of  gratification  over  an  interview  I  had  with  him. 


124     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

One  morning  while  attending  Professor  Massie's  class  in 
French,  I  was  informed  that  General  Lee  wished  to  see 
me.  The  announcement  almost  took  my  breath  away. 
I  immediately  commenced  conjuring  up  all  the  little 
wanderings  from  the  straight  and  narrow  path  that  I 
might  have  committed  and  that  good  students  were 
expected  to  keep  from.  Having  somewhat  neglected  my 
studies  by  indulging  too  freely  in  a  new  found  pleasure, 
that  of  skating,  I  concluded  the  wasting  of  my  oppor 
tunities  was  what  he  wished  to  guard  me  against.  I 
went  to  see  him  with  a  great  deal  of  trepidation  in  his 
little  cramped  office  in  the  two-story  building  at  the 
extreme  right  wing  of  the  college.  As  I  walked  in, 
introducing  myself  with  the  statement  that  I  had  been 
informed  by  Professor  Massie  that  he  wished  to  see  me, 
he  immediately  arose  from  his  chair,  came  forward, 
grasped  me  by  the  hand,  and  invited  me  to  have  a  chair. 
He  at  once  inquired  about  my  family,  about  what  I  had 
been  doing  before  coming  to  college,  how  I  liked  it,  and 
what  calling  I  thought  of  following  after  leaving  college, 
my  views  of  life,  etc.  As  he  talked  to  me  in  such  a  kind, 
fatherly  and  business  way,  giving  me  advice  for  the 
future,  gradually  my  bashfulness  and  fear  left  me  and 
then  he  capped  the  climax,  just  before  bidding  me 
good-by,  by  complimenting  me  on  my  standing  in 
school.  In  leaving  the  room  I  felt  as  if  I  walked  on  air. 

General  Lee,  being  of  a  religious  nature,  took  much 
interest  in  the  moral  welfare  of  the  students,  and  tried 
to  keep  them  in  good,  respectable  homes  and  away  from 
hotels  and  other  like  public  places. 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  125 

As  to  his  family  relations  I  think  they  were  of  the 
happiest  kind.  His  wife,  I  always  understood,  was 
much  of  an  invalid.  I  never  saw  her,  but  often  saw 
his  daughters. 

As  memory  turns  back  a  long  forgotten  page,  I  can 
see  myself  with  dozens  of  fellow  students  standing  in 
front  of  the  old  Presbyterian  church  taking  off  our  hats 
with  heart- felt  pleasure  to  General  Lee  as  he  rode  by  on 
his  old  war  horse,  that  he  loved  and  rode  so  well. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Tayloe,  Union  town,  Alabama: 
I  arrived  at  Lexington  on  the  9th  day  of  October, 
1869;   a  green   country   boy,   who   had   never   before 
ventured  far  from  home;  seventeen  years  of  age,  ig 
norant  not  only  of  books  but  of  the  world,  its  ways  and 
by-ways.    With  other  boys  I  first  went  into  the  office 
of  Mr.  J.  M.  Leech,  the  secretary  of  the  faculty.    There 
I  registered.     After  that  Mr.  Leech  took  us  in  and 
introduced  us  to  General  Lee.     I  have  always  been 
near-sighted.     The  room  was  dark.     I   saw  nothing 
much;  nothing  that  impressed  itself  on  my  memory. 
It  seemed  to  me  very  perfunctory.     That  may  have 
been  the  result  of  a  "nil  admirari"  spirit  on  my  part. 
The  interview  left  just  no  impression  on  me.    That  is  all. 
I  took  all  my  time  to  learn  my  lessons.    I  had  no  time 
for  chapel;  and  so  I  missed  seeing  the  General  there. 
Occasionally  I  saw  him  on  his  way  to  and  fro,  but  not 
closely.    The  impression  left  on  me  is  that  of  a  stout  old 
man  who  had  no  too  great  strength.    Our  paths  never 
crossed  in  the  ordinary  course  of  life. 


126     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

I  soon  learned  that  Lewis,  the  negro  janitor,  passed 
around  with  little  notes  every  Monday  morning.  They 
were  sinister,  and  contained  requests  for  visits  to  the 
General.  That  meant  a  lecture  for  some  misfeasance 
or  malfeasance.  I  did  not  want  one  of  them.  Such 
interviews  were  not  at  all  prized.  So  I  devoted  most  of 
my  time  to  books.  This  incident  shows  how  carefully 
the  General  kept  up  with  the  career  of  each  particular 
student. 

I  remember  Lewis  so  well.  The  students  should  erect 
a  monument  to  him.  He  was  quite  efficient  and  such  a 
gentleman.  He  probably  knew  the  General  better  than 
any  of  us.  We  were  all  devoted  to  Lewis  in  my  day.  I 
found  him  there  upon  my  arrival  and  he  was  there  when 
I  left  in  the  month  of  August,  1878.  Peace  to  his  ashes. 
His  memory  is  as  fragrant  with  me  as  was  that  of  the 
other  gentleman  from  Kentucky  of  whom  Hopkinson 
Smith  writes  so  lovingly. 

I  did  very  well  in  my  studies  and  stood  at  or  near  the 
head  of  my  classes.  I  was  in  a  class  in  mathematics 
under  Professor  Lyle.  He  was  tutor  under  Professor 
Nelson.  The  General  made  it  a  practice  to  visit  each 
room  where  an  examination  was  held  at  some  time 
during  the  morning.  The  best  students  were  held  for 
this  visit.  On  the  day  of  the  examination  I  was  afraid 
of  that  ordeal.  At  last,  I  was  called  to  the  board  and 
given  a  problem.  I  hoped  to  finish  before  the  General 
came  in.  But  the  professor  held  me  until  he  did  come. 
And  so  I  had  to  rehearse  the  problem  before  him;  much 
to  my  fear  and  horror.  However,  I  stood  the  ordeal 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  127 

well,  as  I  knew  the  problem  fully.  After  that,  it  was  the 
usual  thing  for  me  to  recite  when  the  General  was  in  the 
room.  I  could  never  see  that  any  impression  was  made 
upon  him.  Nor  did  anything  occur  to  make  me  have 
any  particular  impression  of  the  person.  I  had  no  idea 
but  one  of  fear  and  distance. 

I  never  spoke  to  him  nor  he  to  me  after  that  first  in 
terview  until  commencement,  1870,  and  then  only  for  a 
minute.  I  saw  him  once  on  Traveller.  He  was  passing 
just  as  I  came  out  of  the  gate  at  the  Episcopal  church. 
I  saw  him  but  a  moment;  the  picture  is  with  me  yet. 
Traveller  moved  as  if  proud  of  the  burden  he  bore.  To 
me  the  horse  was  beautiful  and  majestic.  It  was  the 
only  time  that  I  was  impressed  with  the  greatness  and 
beauty  and  power  and  glory  of  the  man.  He  sat  erect  in 
the  saddle.  The  gloved  hand  held  the  bridle,  the  other 
hung  gracefully  at  his  side.  He  was  every  inch  a  king. 
It  was  only  a  moment,  but  the  impression  will  last  a 
lifetime.  It  is  one  of  the  joyous  moments  of  life  on 
which  my  memory  loves  to  dwell. 

At  commencement,  I  won  the  scholarship  in  Latin, 
Greek  and  mathematics  and  was  also  pronounced  a 
"Distinguished  Undergraduate."  The  signed  paper  to 
this  day  hangs  now  framed  upon  my  wall.  It  is  the 
only  paper  that  I  have  with  his  signature.  This  honor 
was  conferred  the  week  before  commencement  day. 
The  announcement  was  made  towards  the  close  of  that 
week.  That  morning  I  had  nothing  to  do,  my  examina 
tions  being  over.  About  the  middle  of  the  forenoon  I 
was  standing  alone  before  the  door  of  the  main  building 


128     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

that  faces  the  chapel.  I  saw  the  General  coming  up  the 
walk  towards  the  college.  I  hid  behind  the  last  pillar  of 
the  portico  in  front  of  the  main  building.  I  had  no  idea 
that  he  had  noticed  me.  I  considered  myself  safely 
concealed  and  there  was  no  one  in  sight.  My  back  was 
turned  to  the  door  of  the  main  building.  I  heard  a 
voice,  turned  and  found  him  with  hand  extended  to  me. 
His  soft  notes  of  congratulation  fell  upon  my  ears  and 
the  hope  that  I  would  return  the  next  session.  That 
was  all.  I  hardly  knew  what  had  happened.  I  was  so 
utterly  confounded  I  knew  not  what  to  say  or  do.  The 
moment  was  soon  gone  and  only  the  memory  is  left. 
Vacation  carried  me  home.  I  returned  in  September. 
My  recollection  is  that  he  was  late  in  getting  back  to  his 
work.  I  hardly  saw  anything  of  him  even  at  a  distance. 
One  morning,  as  I  was  coming  from  the  old  mess  hall 
up  the  path  by  the  chapel  to  the  college  he  passed  on  his 
way  toward  home,  bent  and  broken.  He  never  passed 
that  way  again  in  life.  The  next  day  we  knew  that  he 
was  ill,  and  then  he  passed  to  that  mysterious  realm. 

Judge  D.  Gardiner  Tyler,  Holdcroft,  Virginia: 
In  the  autumn  of  1867,  after  an  absence  of  two  years 
from  America,  I  entered  Washington  College,  under 
the  presidency  of  General  Lee.  It  was  my  privilege, 
and  I  shall  count  it  always  a  blessing,  to  be  intimate 
with  his  charming  family  during  my  student  life,  and 
to  see  the  General  nearly  every  day  at  his  home  or  in  the 
class  room.  My  reverence  for  the  great  soldier  deepened 
into  a  personal  attachment  for  the  noble  gentleman, 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  129 

the  kind  and  gracious  friend,  so  human  and  sympathetic 
with  all  his  greatness.  His  very  presence  seemed  to 
make  purer  the  atmosphere  around  him,  and  there  was 
in  him  a  blended  dignity  and  sweetness  that  made  a 
man  feel  better  for  the  seeing.  The  admiration  and 
respect  in  which  the  students  held  him  was  universal, 
and  during  two  years  at  college  I  never  heard  a  jesting 
word  spoken  of  General  Lee.  He  took  a  personal  in 
terest  in  the  students,  and  he  was  always  open  to 
approach  in  his  home  or  his  office.  His  influence  with 
the  wildest  and  most  careless  was  wonderful,  and  yet 
no  harsh  word  fell  from  his  lips.  A  gentle  reprimand 
to  the  most  thoughtless  was  sufficient.  I  remember 
an  incident  that  occurred  the  first  year  of  my  course 
in  college  that  showed  the  remarkable  control  he 
could  exercise  over  the  student  body  at  a  time  when 
the  worst  passions  had  been  aroused  among  them. 

A  very  popular  young  student,  a  son  of  Judge  Brock- 
enbrough,  professor  of  law,  got  into  a  difficulty  with  a 
negro  and  was  badly  shot.  His  life  was  despaired  of. 
As  soon  as  the  news  of  the  assault  reached  the  college, 
four  hundred  students,  with  a  brother  of  the  wounded 
boy  at  their  head,  searched  for  and  captured  the  trem 
bling  wretch,  and  with  a  rope  around  his  neck,  marched 
through  the  streets  of  the  town  to  the  courthouse 
square,  with  intent  to  wreak  their  vengeance  on  the 
man. 

It  was  in  vain  that  the  college  and  town  authorities 
sought  to  calm  the  frenzied  mob  and  induce  them  to 
turn  over  the  negro  to  the  officers  of  the  law.  Just  then 


130     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

General  Lee  appeared.  Immediately  the  tumult  was 
hushed,  and  the  General,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the 
excited  throng  simply  said:  "Young  gentlemen,  let  the 
law  take  its  course.'*  The  quiet  words  had  the  effect  of 
a  military  order,  and  the  negro's  life  was  saved. 

During  the  final  examinations,  it  was  the  custom  of 
the  General  to  request  students  to  visit  his  office  in  the 
college  building,  so  that  he  might  talk  with  them  and 
encourage  them  about  their  work  at  this  crucial  stage  of 
their  collegiate  life. 

I  recall  a  very  pleasant  interview  I  had  with  him  after 
finishing  my  examinations  and  whilst  waiting  to  learn 
the  result.  He  was  sitting  at  a  table  as  I  entered  the 
room,  and  partially  rising  from  his  chair,  asked  me  to  be 
seated.  He  began  to  question  me  as  to  the  branches  I 
had  been  examined  on,  and  when  I  told  him  that  Span 
ish  was  one,  his  face  lighted  up,  and  with  a  humorous 
twinkle  in  his  eye  he  exclaimed:  "Why,  I  know  some 
Spanish  myself;  you  know  I  was  in  Mexico."  He  then 
talked  for  some  minutes  in  the  most  interesting  way 
about  the  beauty  of  the  tongue  and  the  richness  of  the 
literature  of  Spain.  When  he  finished  I  discovered 
that  he  knew  far  more  Spanish  than  Professor  Joynes 
had  been  able  to  impart  to  me! 

In  the  late  spring  of  1870  I  saw  General  Lee  for  the 
last  time.  He  was  on  his  way  to  the  South  under  the 
advice  of  his  physicians  for  the  benefit  of  his  health, 
which  had  begun  to  fail.  I  was  painfully  struck  with 
the  change  in  his  appearance  since  I  had  left  Lexington 
the  year  before,  and  I  think  he  had  little  hope  of  re- 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  131 

cuperation.  His  face  showed  the  deep  lines,  made 
more,  I  think,  by  grief  for  his  people,  than  by  disease, 
and  he  seemed  weary  and  broken.  In  a  few  short 
months  afterwards  the  South  was  weeping  over  his 
grave.  The  hero  "whose  name  is  a  blessing  to  speak " 
had  become  an  eternal  memory! 

Mr.  Joseph  John  Allen,  Louisburg,  North  Carolina: 
I,  myself,  was  the  recipient  of  a  proffered  kindness 
of  General  Lee,  as  he  offered  me  every  inducement  to 
return  to  college  and  graduate.  I  was  introduced  to 
him  by  Gov.  Letcher  and  I  told  him  of  my  being  the 
youngest  of  six  sons  and  having  to  quit  school  when 
all  but  me  had  left  for  the  service  of  the  Confederate 
States  and  that  my  time  came  at  the  age  of  seventeen 
and  that  I  had  not  seen  a  book  for  years.  At  this  he 
almost  broke  down  and  said,  "  That  is  bad."  He  in 
vited  me  to  dinner  with  him  and  I  very  absent-mindedly 
declined  his  invitation  on  the  ground  that  I  wanted 
to  get  to  work,  and  had  not  a  moment  to  spare.  He 
was  delighted  with  my  record. 

There  was  a  poor  boy  in  my  class  in  intermediate 
Latin  whose  name  was  Harvey  Butler  Fergusson  who 
had  walked  from  Alabama  to  Washington  College  with 
all  that  his  father  could  give  him,  viz. :  a  gold  watch  and 
three  hundred  dollars  in  money.  He  told  General  Lee 
of  his  condition,  and  that  he  wanted  to  go  to  college. 
At  this  General  Lee  almost  melted  but  soon  pointed  out 
the  way  for  the  boy  to  get  through.  Fergusson  ob 
tained  board  and  lodging  with  a  Mr.  Holden  out  on  the 


132     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

road  directly  south  of  Lexington  and  walked  to  school 
every  day  over  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles.  When 
vacation  came  he  hired  himself  to  two  farmers  of  the 
neighborhood  and  worked  as  a  field  hand  or  at  anything 
to  make  a  livelihood. 

He  went  through  college  with  distinction,  and  as  well 
as  my  memory  serves  me,  was  given  General  Lee's 
scholarship,  and  taught  in  the  college.  He  settled  in 
New  Mexico,  where  he  was  elected  to  Congress  for 
several  terms.  The  last  I  ever  heard  of  him  was  that  he 
was  living  in  Washington,  D.  C.  They  called  him 
Judge  Fergusson. 

Mr.  David  J.  Wilson,  Emmorton,  Maryland: 

I  regret  that  as  a  student  of  Washington  College 
during  the  presidency  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  I  was 
not  called  upon  sooner  for  information;  as  at  an  earlier 
date  after  leaving  college  I  could  have  remembered 
more  incidents  and  could  have  furnished  more  of  the 
facts  desired. 

I  did  not  enter  Washington  College  until  the  second 
year  of  General  Lee's  presidency.  As  a  student  of  the 
college  for  two  years  I  can  give  as  facts  the  following: 

It  was  a  general  belief  in  all  the  Southern  States, 
including  Maryland,  as  expressed  by  the  students 
therefrom,  that  the  example  of  General  Lee  would 
weigh  far  more  in  the  restoration  of  normal  conditions 
and  true  peace  than  any  other  factor  in  a  war-distracted 
country.  The  number  of  students  was  greatly  increased, 
and  it  soon  became  evident  that  the  college  buildings 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  133 

would  not  accommodate  all.  When  this  was  known, 
nearly  all  Lexington  families,  whose  homes  permitted, 
offered  to  board  at  reasonable  prices  as  many  students 
as  chose  to  accept  their  offer.  Many  did  accept,  and 
found  pleasant  homes. 

General  Lee  took  great  interest  in  the  personal  com 
fort  and  welfare  of  the  students  while  they  were  under 
his  care.  This  was  manifested  from  the  time  of  the 
arrival  of  each  student  in  Lexington  until  he  had  re 
turned  to  his  home.  When  a  student  was  introduced  to 

the  General,  addressing  him  as  "Mr. ,"  he  inquired 

what  course  of  study  he  desired  to  take.  His  choice  was 
accepted,  but  he  was  required  to  take  as  many  studies 
as  were  prescribed  in  the  college  rules.  The  student  was 
then  put  in  charge  of  some  instructor,  who  helped  him 
find  a  suitable  boarding  house. 

His  interest  in  the  moral  and  spiritual  welfare  of 
students  can  be  shown  perhaps  by  one  incident.  Sev 
eral  of  my  friends  thought  of  making  a  trip  to  the 
Natural  Bridge  (fourteen  miles  away)  on  a  Sunday.  It 
was  suggested  that  one  of  our  party  should  see  General 
Lee  the  evening  before,  make  known  our  intention,  and 
secure  his  assent.  But  when  the  General  heard  of  the 
plan  he  refused  his  assent,  and  said  it  was  not  only 
against  the  college  rules  to  leave  the  town  on  Sunday, 
but  it  was  wrong  to  spend  Sunday  in  traveling  for 
pleasure. 

His  chief  recreation,  and  I  know  of  very  little  else, 
was  horseback  riding.  This  was  generally  between 
certain  hours  in  the  afternoon.  On  these  occasions 


134     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

"  Traveller "  was  always  his  mount.  For  this  horse  he 
showed  a  great  fondness.* 

His  discipline  as  college  president  was  mild.  The 
students  knew  that  while  he  trusted  to  their  honor  to 
obey  the  rules  of  the  college,  if  they  intentionally  broke 
a  rule  they  would  be  called  upon  for  an  explanation.  If 
the  explanation  was  not  satisfactory,  the  student  was 
warned  to  be  careful  in  the  future,  and  told  that  a 
second  offense  might  cause  his  dismissal. 

He  did  not  show  a  marked  preference  for  any  partic 
ular  study,  but  it  was  generally  thought  his  chief 
interest  was  in  mathematics.  He  took  great  interest  in 
beautifying  the  college  grounds,  and  in  the  plans  for 
new  buildings.  The  new  chapel  was  completed  during 
his  presidency.  He  showed  and  expressed  interest  in 
the  construction  and  was  often  seen  inspecting  the  work. 

The  effect  of  General  Lee's  example  and  influence 
upon  the  student  body  was  for  their  good,  and  was 
lasting.  The  students  took  the  impressions  received 
from  his  example  and  instruction  to  their  states,  and  it 
goes  without  saying,  future  generations  will  reap  benefit 
therefrom. 

I  doubt  if  there  ever  lived  a  president  of  an  institution 
of  learning  in  our  republic  who  during  a  space  of  time 
as  short  as  that  in  which  he  was  president  of  Washing 
ton  College,  used  his  influence  in  a  greater  degree,  and 

*  When  the  new  President's  home  was  built  for  General  Lee  a  comfortable 
and  commodious  brick  stable  was  added  on  the  back  premises,  next  to  the 
street.  This  was  particularly  gratifying  to  General  Lee,  who  expressed 
much  satisfaction  over  living  "under  the  same  roof"  with  Traveller.  The 
two  buildings  were  connected  by  a  covered  passageway. — Editor. 


GENERAL  LEE  ON  TRAVELLER 
LAST  HOMES  OE  GENERAL  LEE  AND  TRAVELLER 

Traveller's   stable  on   the  left   side  of  this   picture  was   connected   with    the 
President's  Home  by  a  covered  passage  way. 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  135 

with  greater  success  in  the  making  of  good  citizens  than 
did  Gen.  Robert  E.  Lee. 


Dr.  Chalmers  Deadrick,  Knoxville,  Tennessee: 

After  General  Lee's  administration  at  Washington 
College  began,  I  do  not  suppose  a  single  student  ma 
triculated  who  was  not  a  warm  admirer  of  him.  Close 
observation  and  personal  acquaintance  with  his  methods 
and  manner,  fostered  a  spirit  of  profound  love  and 
devotion.  There  were  no  kickers  among  the  students. 
General  Lee's  personal  and  professional  sublimity 
drew  them  unanimously  and  grappled  their  souls  "with 
hooks  of  steel." 

The  citizens  of  Lexington  were  also  unanimous  in 
their  appreciation  of  General  Lee's  coming.  Their 
welcome  of  the  new  president  was  cordial  and  enthu 
siastic.  They  appreciated  the  honor  that  had  fallen  upon 
the  town.  They  were  proud  in  the  consciousness  that 
the  greatest  public  character  in  history  was  their 
fellow  citizen. 

General  Lee's  interest  in  the  student  body  began  with 
the  beginning  of  his  service  and  continued,  unabated, 
up  to  the  time  of  his  death.  His  quiet,  kindly  manner 
when  talking  to  a  student,  was  always  profoundly 
impressive.  A  timid  student  was  invariably  put  at  ease 
by  a  few  minutes'  talk.  A  wayward  student,  when 
summoned  before  him,  was  always  positively  benefited, 
unless  he  was  made  of  impenetrable  stuff. 

During  the  fall  of  '67  a  student  left  the  hill,  without 
leave,  and  spent  the  whole  day  off  duty.  When  sum- 


136     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

moned  before  General  Lee  to  give  an  excuse  for  his 
absence,  he  frankly  admitted  that  he  was  fox  hunting. 
Very  quietly  General  Lee  remarked:  "We  did  not  come 

here  to  hunt  foxes,  Mr. ."  Then  followed  some 

wholesome  advice,  which  effectually  settled  the  fox 
hunting  matter  for  good.  That  boy  never  even  wanted 
to  go  after  foxes  any  more. 

Many  times  I  have  seen  General  Lee  manifest  affec 
tion  for  Traveller,  and  Traveller  always  seemed  to 
appreciate  it.  I  have  seen  General  Lee  stand  and  gaze 
at  the  faithful  old  animal,  apparently  recalling  scenes 
of  the  war.  Then  he  would  stroke  Traveller's  nose  and 
hand  him  a  lump  of  sugar.  Traveller  was  his  pet.  A 
comrade  and  I  frequently  walked  the  road  leading 
toward  the  "Peaks  of  Otter."  We  often  saw  General 
Lee  riding  on  the  same  road  alone. 

The  effects  of  General  Lee's  presidency  were  manifest 
from  the  very  beginning.  The  patronage  increased 
rapidly.  Hundreds  of  boys  went  to  Washington  College 
from  all  over  the  South,  because  General  Lee  was  there. 
A  large  majority  of  the  students  present  in  the  fall  and 
winter  of  '6$-66y  were  ex-Confederate  soldiers,  who  had 
lost  several  years  of  schooling  by  the  war.  They  re 
sumed  their  studies  earnestly,  and  made  good  students, 
both  as  to  application  and  deportment. 

As  the  years  went  by,  the  effects  of  his  administration 
became  more  and  more  manifest.  Had  he  lived  longer,  a 
large  increase  of  accommodations  would  have  been 
necessary  in  order  to  house  the  hundreds  of  new  stu 
dents.  The  southern  people  were  soon  convinced  that 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  137 

General  Lee's  influence  upon  their  sons  was  an  asset  of 
immense  value.  His  spirit  overshadowed  everything 
about  the  college  and  community.  The  profound  re 
spect  and  love  of  the  students,  was  wonderful.  They 
were  eager,  at  all  times,  to  obey  his  slightest  wish. 

On  one  occasion  they  announced  a  great  callithump 
to  come  off  on  a  designated  night.  Much  interest  was 
manifested  and  extensive  preparation  was  made.  Some 
of  the  professors  went  among  the  boys  with  the  warning 
and  threat  that  General  Lee  would  expel  every  student 
who  took  part  in  it.  But  General  Lee  had  issued  no 
order  concerning  it  and  the  preparation  continued. 
About  thirty-six  hours  before  the  set  time  arrived 
General  Lee  posted  a  very  polite  notice  on  his  bulletin 
board.  I  do  not  remember  the  wording,  but  it  was 
addressed:  "Young  Gentlemen:"  and  ended:  "I  would 
rather  you  would  not  engage  in  another."  There  was  no 
word  of  threat  in  it,  but  it  was  enough.  The  tin  horns, 
tin  pans  and  other  paraphernalia  promptly  disappeared 
and  the  callithump  was  a  thing  of  the  past.  A  student 
from  California  wanted  to  go  on  with  it,  arguing  that 
General  Lee  had  not  ordered  it  off,  but  he  could  get  no 
followers  and  came  near  getting  into  serious  trouble  for 
proposing  a  thing  so  preposterous.  General  Lee's 
slightest  wish  was  law.  He  led  the  students  by  the 
same  cord  he  had  used  upon  his  devoted  soldiers  during 
the  war. 

The  fact  that  General  Lee  was  once  its  president,  will 
have  a  lasting  influence  in  favor  of  Washington  and  Lee 
University.  I  doubt  whether,  in  the  world's  history,  a 


138     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

college  president  ever  exercised  as  powerful  an  influence 
for  good  over  his  students  and  faculty  as  did  General 
Lee. 

Rev.  C.  C.  Brown,  Sumter,  South  Carolina: 

There  are  only  a  few  left  among  us  who  can  proudly 
say,  "I  followed  Lee."  Well,  that  is  exactly  what  I 
did  when  I  was  a  boy  of  seventeen  years.  I  passed 
by  other  and  more  easily  accessible  schools  in  this 
and  in  neighboring  states,  and  went  to  Lexington  to 
follow  Lee.  It  pleased  my  old  father,  who  was  then 
eighty- four  years  old,  and  it  pleased  me;  for  I  was  a 
southern  boy,  full  of  every  southern  instinct,  good  or 
bad. 

Jim  Aldrich  and  I  made  the  long  trip  to  Lexington 
together  from  our  homes  in  Barnwell,  S.  C.  Jim  after 
wards  became  a  judge  on  the  bench — I  became  a  Bap 
tist  preacher.  Jim  has  gone  on  to  join  the  big  major 
ity,  and  I  am  reaching  out  to  lay  hold  of  my  seventieth 
year. 

Lexington  could  boast  of  no  railroad  in  those  good 
days,  and  we  rolled  into  town  one  evening,  in  1869,  in  a 
stage  coach.  I  had  never  been  among  the  mountains 
before,  and  the  slow  journey  gave  me  a  chance  to  see 
what  I  had  never  seen — the  mountains  face  to  face  and 
close  up. 

General  Lee's  office  was  then  where  they  tell  me  it 
still  is.  If  no  hand  has  disturbed  it,  I  know  full  well 
how  it  looks.  The  morning  after  my  arrival,  fortified 
with  and  emboldened  by  a  letter  of  introduction  from 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  139 

General  Johnson  Hagood,  who  had  known  General  Lee 
on  the  field,  and  who  afterwards  was  made  governor  of 
South  Carolina,  I  stood  at  the  office  door  of  the  man  I 
had  been  taught  to  believe  was  the  greatest  man  in  the 
whole  world.  My  heart  cut  all  kinds  of  capers,  and  my 
knuckles  could  make  but  a  very  gentle  tap  on  the  office 
door.  I  was  not  sure  what  would  happen  when  I  really 
stood  face  to  face  with  the  General.  I  did  not  know 
what  his  manners  were — how  he  treated  boys — fright 
ened  boys  like  me — nor  had  I  been  able  to  make  up  any 
sort  of  set  speech  for  the  occasion.  My  approach  was  to 
be  purely  ex  tempore.  But  I  did  at  last  timidly  rap,  and 
the  voice  which  told  me  to  come  in  seemed  to  bring  with 
it  a  sort  of  strengthening  and  sustaining  power.  Within 
two  minutes,  I  was  seated  in  a  chair,  talking  to  the 
General  as  if  I  had  known  him  and  had  played  at  his 
feet  from  childhood.  After  reading  General  Hagood's 
letter,  he  told  me  of  some  of  his  experiences  with  Ha 
good  during  the  war.  Then  he  asked  me  questions 
about  my  studies,  and  when  I  went  away  from  his 
office,  I  carried  with  me  a  determination  to  go  back  and 
talk  with  him  again.  The  truth  was  he  had  won  my  love 
and  admiration,  and  I  was  ready  to  take  my  place 
among  his  worshipers.  He  called  me  "Mr.  Brown." 
That  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  "Mr."  had  ever  been 
prefixed  to  my  name,  and  it  gave  me  a  feeling  that  was 
quite  peculiar. 

After  that,  I  met  General  Lee  on  the  streets,  in  his 
home,  on  the  campus,  and  in  his  office,  but  it  was  never 
necessary  to  be  introduced  to  him  a  second  time.  He 


140     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

had  the  remarkable  faculty  of  recognizing  faces  and 
knowing  names.  If  he  met  one  or  two  of  the  students 
walking  on  the  street,  it  was  his  custom  to  call  each  by 
his  name.  If  he  had  had  no  other  gift  for  the  college 
presidency,  this  would  have  gone  far  towards  qualifying 
him. 

It  came  to  pass  that  the  professor  who  taught  us 
senior  Latin  was  given  an  assistant.  The  intermediate 
examination  was  raging  like  a  forest  fire.  The  young 
professor  said  the  nearest  he  could  come  to  the  word 
examination  in  a  Latin  sound  was  examen  apum,  and  he 
called  upon  us  to  translate  the  two  words  which  he  had 
written  on  the  blackboard.  While  thirty  or  more  of  us 
were  struggling  over  the  words,  General  Lee  walked  into 
the  room.  The  professor  stated  our  trouble — that  we 
could  not  translate  those  two  words  on  the  board — a 
senior  class  at  that.  General  Lee  read  the  words,  then 
turned  to  us  and  said.  "If  one  of  you  young  gentle 
men  will  undertake  to  give  us  the  meaning  of  the  first 
word,  I  think  I  can  supply  the  meaning  of  the  second." 
It  was  manifest  that  he  was  stumped,  just  as  we  were. 
The  professor  came  to  our  help  by  saying,  "How  will 
swarm  do?"  "Ah,  then,"  said  the  General,  "we'll 
make  it  a  swarm  of  bees." 

I  thought  the  old  man  was  so  far  away  from  school 
days  and  school-books,  and  had  been  so  mixed  up  with 
blood  and  battles,  that  he  didn't  know  a  Latin  word  on 
the  earth. 

Whether  General  Lee  died  during  the  night  or  early  in 
the  morning,  I  cannot  now  recall.  I  remember  well, 


BRIEF  STATEMENTS  BY  "LEE  ALUMNI"  141 

however,  that  I  had  entered  the  gate  to  the  campus  just 
in  front  of  the  President's  house,  and  was  about  half 
way  to  the  main  building,  about  nine  o'clock,  that 
October  morning,  when  a  fellow  student  from  Texas 
said  to  me,  "  General  Lee  is  dead ! "  I  had  known  he  was 
sick,  and  we  had  daily  bulletins  about  his  condition. 
But  to  know  that  he  was  dead!  It  produced  a  subdued 
state  of  mind  that  I  cannot  now  describe.  I  went  to  my 
room,  and  commenced  to  write.  I  wrote  letters  to  my 
parents,  to  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  filled  every 
letter  with  all  kinds  of  encomiums  of  our  dead  President. 

The  funeral  I  need  not  describe,  more  than  to  say  I 
was  there  to  keep  step  in  the  great  procession  that 
followed  him  and  old  Traveller  down  by  the  V.  M.  I.  and 
back  to  the  chapel.  What  went  on  in  the  chapel,  I 
never  knew,  as  I  stood  outside  under  the  trees  because  of 
a  house  that  was  more  than  full. 

I  went  often  to  his  grave  beneath  the  chapel  to  look 
upon  it  and  reflect  upon  his  greatness;  and  to  this  day, 
after  fifty  years  have  passed,  I  can  say  from  a  grateful 
heart,  I  am  glad  I  was  able  to  look  upon  the  form  of 
Robert  E.  Lee  and  to  hear  the  sound  of  his  living  voice. 


PRESIDENT  LEE  AND  THE  STUDENT 

By  DR.  S.  Z.  AMMEN,  Baltimore,  Md. 

GENERAL  LEE  was  an  efficient  president  and 
used  his  influence  in  the  collegiate  world,  of 
faculty  and  students,  with  admirable  results. 
He  was  not,  it  is  true,  a  college  president  of  the  type 
now  prevalent.  He  was  not  an  academic  man  whose  life 
had  been  spent  on  the  campus  and  in  the  lecture-room, 
with  an  environment  of  civilians;  he  had  been  educated 
at  West  Point,  among  officers,  accustomed  to  obey  and 
be  obeyed,  enforcing  discipline  under  a  tradition  of 
aloofness.  Recently  he  had  commanded  large  armies 
and  decided  great  issues,  having  to  do  with  men  under 
hard  conditions.  It  was,  accordingly,  not  to  be  ex 
pected  that  he  could  all  at  once  drop  the  habits  of  a 
lifetime,  and  appear  in  a  new  role.  He  had  all  the  great 
virtues,  with  most  of  the  minor  ones.  His  dignity  of 
demeanor,  his  courtesy,  his  s avoir  faire,  were  remark 
able. 

He  was  not,  however,  of  ardent  temperament,  or 
expansive,  or  particularly  affable.  He  did  not  mingle 
much  with  us  students.  To  us  he  was  an  Olympian, 
remote,  seen  in  a  haze  of  great  deeds,  in  a  great  and 
tragic  past.  We  knew  him  in  the  routine  of  collegiate 
duties  as  a  just,  firm,  polite  administrator,  whose 


PRESIDENT  LEE  AND  THE  STUDENT  143 

lightest  word  was  law.  Undoubtedly  his  presence  was 
stimulative  to  professors  and  students.  It  was  also 
restrictive.  The  boys  were  kept  from  many  a  bit  of 
cantankerous  disorder  to  which  the  student,  reacting  to 
dull  drudgery,  will  sometimes  turn.  There  was  a  feeling 
of  awe  inspired  by  the  ex-commander  of  the  C.  S.  army. 
The  respect  for  him  was  profound.  A  word  of  disap 
proval  quelled  the  most  determined  calli  thump. 

We  likened  him  to  Agamemnon,  and  we  were  his 
Achaioi,  battling  on  the  windy  plains  of  Troy.  Spirit 
ually,  then,  he  thoroughly  dominated  us,  however 
reticent,  and  in  manner  remote. 

The  respect  in  which  we  held  General  Lee  is  illus 
trated  in  a  "poem"  written  by  a  student  at  Christmas, 
1866,  describing  an  alleged  faculty  meeting  held  to 
decide  whether  our  request  for  a  week's  holiday  should  • 
be  granted.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  professors  are 
jocularly  treated  as  faddists  absorbed  in  their  several 
specialties,  but  General  Lee  is  pictured  as  the  students' 
friend,  an  awful  monarch,  Atreus'  son,  King  of  Men,  far 
superior  to  his  subordinate  chiefs. 

WHY   WE    DID    NOT    GET    HOLIDAY 

The  Scene  is  laid  in  Agamemnon's  tent  at  Troy. 
"Latium's  King"  was  Prof.  Harris.  The  "  Argive"  was 
Prof.  White.  "Th'  Adventurous  Chief"  was  Prof. 
Joynes.  The  "Lord  of  the  Hypothenuse"  was  Prof. 
Nelson.  The  roamer  of  the  "shoreless  ethereal  sea" 
was  the  Professor  of  Physics.  The  expert  on  "loams" 


144     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTFR  APPOMATTOX 

was  the  much-loved  Prof.  Campbell.  It  is  to  be  ob 
served  that  General  Lee,  the  "King  of  Men/'  favored 
the  petition.  He  could  do  no  wrong. 

High  on  his  throne,  in  awful  state, 

Apart  sits  the  King  of  Men. 
His  mighty  Chiefs  about  him  wait, 
Scratching  each  one  his  learned  pate, 

As  not  to  scratch  were  pain. 

Now  first  out-spake  the  sceptered  King, 

Basileus  of  all  the  Greeks, 
"  Scriptor  Scriptorum,  haste  straight  to  bring 
The  petition  hither.     'Tis  a  little  thing 

They  ask — not  even  two  weeks. " 

Then  parvus  scriptor,  with  prologue  brief, 

Stood  forth,  and  standing  read: 
"To  Atreus*  son,  each  mighty  chief, 
Who  rules  supreme  to  turn  the  leaf, 

Be  due  obedience  paid.'* 

"Now  we  all  wearied  with  ceaseless  war 

'Gainst  Idlesse  fair  and  Love — 
Love  and  longing  for  homes  afar, 
Where  house-hold  gods  and  sweethearts  are, 

Would  ask  your  leave  to  rove." 

"  Rove  would  we,  to  return  again, 

With  undiminished  wrath, 
To  conquer  oft,  on  the  Trojan  plain, 
Dull  exercise  and  problems  vain 

In  Latin,  Greek  and  Math." 

Scriptor  Scriptorum  solemnly  read 

This  simple  prayer,  tho'  hardy, 
While  Latium's  King  inclined  his  head, 
Twirled  his  pencil  and  dixit  "  Sed — 

But  the  Argive  King  said  "tade" 


PRESIDENT  LEE  AND  THE  STUDENT  14 

"Assembled  Kings  of" — "Pas  du  tout" 

Outcried  th*  adventurous  Chief 
Whose  Kingdom  lies  extended  through 
Those  lands  where  men  say  " Parlez-vous," 

"  It  is  my  firm  belief"— 

"  Belief!  I  know  it, "  exclaimed  in  wrath 

The  Lord  of  th'  Hypothenuse; 
"Here's  the  equation  of  the  very  path 
They'd  take!  O  lovely  Math, 

How  thou  dost  suffer  abuse!" 

"Abused  be  Math  forever  and  aye 

By  all  whose  heads  are  level," 
Said  Nestor  then,  recalling  the  day 
When  long  ago,  as  poets  say 

Math  was  wife  of  the  Devil. 

;<  Level!  That  means,"  said  he  who  roams 

The  shoreless  ethereal  sea, 

"In  a  plain  which" — "But,"  said  another,  "loams 
With  HC1  make  abundant  foams, 

For  CO2  is  set  free." 

Thus  the  wordy  war  went  round, 

Till — as  it  leaks  out  now — 
The  petition  forgot,  Math  knocked  down, 
Language  triumphing,  with  deaPning  sound; 

The  Faculty  broke  up  in  a  row. 
December  18,  1866.  —Pindar  (S.  Z.  A.) 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE 

By  EDWARD  V.  VALENTINE,  Richmond,  Virginia 

This  interesting  contribution  was  written  by  the  honored  sculptor,  still 
living,  who  made  the  celebrated  "Recumbent  Statue"  of  General  Lee. 
The  greater  part  of  the  article  was  published  in  The  Outlook  of  Dec.  22, 
1906,  though  Mr.  Valentine  has  kindly  added  a  few  concluding  para 
graphs  for  this  publication. — Editor. 

IT  was  Thorwaldsen's  good  fortune  (he  may  have 
thought  it  at  the  time  his  ill  fortune)  to  model  a 
bust  of  Lord  Byron.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the 
sculptor  had  no  little  difficulty  in  the  prosecution  of 
his  work,  for  before  the  sittings  had  fairly  begun  trouble 
had  already  developed.  The  genial  artist  himself 
tells  the  story  of  the  morbid  poet's  posings  for  him. 
He  says:  "When  this  nobleman  came  to  sit  for  me  in  my 
atelier,  he  took  a  seat  opposite  me  and  put  on  directly  a 
strange  expression  entirely  different  from  his  natural 
one.  'My  lord/  I  said  to  him,  *  please  keep  perfectly 
still,  and  I  beg  of  you  do  not  look  so  disconsolate/  'It 
is  my  natural  expression,'  replied  Byron.  'Really,'  I 
said;  and  without  paying  attention  to  this  affectation,  I 
began  to  work  in  my  own  way.  When  the  bust  was 
finished,  everybody  thought  it  a  striking  likeness,  but 
my  lord  was  dissatisfied.  'This  face  is  not  mine,'  he 
said.  '  I  look  far  more  unhappy  than  that' — for  he  was 
positively  bent  on  looking  miserable!" 

Possibly,  if  I  were  asked  to  name  the  most  character- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  147 

istic  feature  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee,  who  sat  for  me 
for  a  bust  in  1870,  my  answer  would  be,  "A  complete 
absence  of  the  melodramatic  in  all  that  he  said  and  did." 
And  I  may  add  that  an  artist,  above  all  other  men,  is 
quick  to  observe  the  faintest  suggestion  of  posing;  the 
slightest  indication  of  a  movement  or  expression  which 
smacks  of  vanity  he  is  sure  to  detect.  Such  weaknesses 
(which,  as  far  as  I  know,  are  shared  by  many  who  are 
called  the  "great  ones"  of  the  world)  were  totally  lack 
ing  in  General  Lee. 

In  my  diary  (which,  with  the  omission  of  a  single 
entry,  I  have  kept  since  1857)  I  have  endeavored  to 
note  down  the  very  words  of  my  sitters  at  times;  and 
only  on  one  occasion  did  General  Lee  make  the  slightest 
remark  in  regard  to  the  likeness  which  would  lead  me  to 
believe  that  he  had  critically  been  watching  the  progress 
of  the  work,  and  this  was  when  the  bust  was  in  an  un 
finished  condition. 

On  the  25th  of  May,  1870,  General  Lee  was  at  my 
studio  in  Richmond,  and  it  was  my  great  privilege  to 
make  accurate  measurements  of  his  face  for  the  bust. 
His  stay  in  the  city  was  a  short  one.  I  was  able  to  take 
only  this  important  preliminary  step,  yet  it  was  on  that 
occasion  that  I  experienced  for  the  first  time  his  quiet 
sense  of  humor.  During  the  conversation  I  had  with 
him  on  that  day  I  spoke  of  how  my  fortunes  had 
changed  since  the  war,  possibly  with  the  expectation  of 
hearing  some  very  sympathetic  words  from  him;  but  to 
my  surprise  he  simply  remarked  that  "an  artist  ought 
not  to  have  too  much  money."  I  am  sure  that  he  had  at 


148     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

the  moment  no  conception  of  the  condition  of  my  purse, 
for  in  less  than  ten  days  after  this  conversation  I  had  to 
borrow  from  a  relative  the  necessary  funds  to  go  to 
Lexington  to  model  the  bust  which  I  have  mentioned. 
Maybe,  however,  it  was  for  my  consolation  that  later  in 
the  conversation  he  said,  "Misfortune  nobly  borne  is 
good  fortune."  At  the  moment  I  thought  the  sentiment 
was  original  with  him,  but  some  time  after  his  death 
while  my  wife  was  reading  aloud  the  "Meditations  of 
Marcus  Aurelius,"  I  discovered  that  it  was  a  quotation 
from  that  author.  At  any  rate,  no  more  appropriate 
epitaph  could  be  carved  on  the  tomb  of  the  great  Vir 
ginian. 

Just  before  parting  with  the  General  I  remarked  that 
I  would  go  to  Lexington  then  or  in  the  fall,  and  he 
replied  that  he  would  have  more  time  at  the  latter 
season,  but  that  I  had  better  go  then.  The  fact  of  his 
appointing  an  early  date  for  the  sittings  made  the 
impression  on  my  mind  that  he  was  at  the  moment 
thinking  of  the  uncertainty  of  life.  Had  I  waited  until 
the  fall,  possibly  I  should  never  had  him  pose  for  me. 
He  died  October  12. 

On  June  3,  1870,  I  left  Richmond  for  Lexington  by 
way  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Ohio  Railroad,  going  via 
Goshen  Pass,  made  ever  memorable  by  the  words  of 
another  great  Virginian,  Commodore  Matthew  Fon 
taine  Maury,  who  on  his  death-bed  asked  that  his 
remains  be  taken  through  this  beautiful  defile  "when 
the  laurels  are  in  bloom."  I  arrived  in  Lexington  by 
stage  early  the  next  morning,  and  called  on  General  Lee 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  149 

at  his  residence.  He  was  very  kind  in  his  manner; 
showed  me  the  portraits  hanging  on  the  wall;  and  then  I 
started  to  seek  a  room  where  I  might  model  the  bust. 
After  an  unsuccessful  search  for  this  temporary  studio,  I 
reported  to  the  General,  who  possibly  from  my  manner 
saw  that  I  was  disappointed  in  not  rinding  one.  At  any 
rate,  he  said,  "You  can  work  in  here,"  speaking  of  the 
room  on  the  left  of  the  front  hall.  I  at  once  remarked 
that  there  was  a  carpet  on  the  floor.  "I  will  have  that 
taken  up,"  he  said.  But  I  preferred  not  to  accept  his 
kind  offer,  and  in  a  further  hunt  I  found  a  vacant  store 
under  the  hotel  on  the  main  street.  Unfortunately,  it 
had  been  closed  I  know  not  how  long,  and  I  feared  the 
dampness.  Although  it  was  in  June,  I  had  a  fire  lighted, 
for  I  had  noticed  that  the  General  would  put  his  hand  on 
his  breast  from  time  to  time,  probably  suffering  with  a 
heart  trouble  that  followed  an  attack  of  pneumonia  after 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg. 

The  day  of  my  arrival  the  General  walked  with  me  up 
into  the  town.  Stopping  at  a  store  he  espied  an  ac 
quaintance  (Mr.  Archibald  Alexander),  he  said,  "Mr. 
Archie,  here  is  a  young  gentleman  from  Richmond  who 
has  come  to  make  a  bust  of  me.  I  wish  you  would  sit 
for  him." 

All  such  jokes  could  but  be  reassuring  to  me,  and  I 
began  to  feel  less  dread  at  being  closeted  for  days  with 
this  great  man. 

After  the  sittings  began  we  were  in  reality  closeted. 
I  had  been  requested  by  him  not  to  allow  any  one  to 
come  into  the  room — "no  one  but  Professor  White  and 


150     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

my  son  Custis,"  he  said.  That  suited  me  exactly. 
Seeing  the  earnest  manner  in  which  I  went  to  the  work, 
he  gave  me  every  advantage.  I  carefully  studied  the 
face,  and  told  him  I  would  like  to  see  his  mouth.  He 
knew  what  that  meant,  and  I  raised  his  mustache  and 
took  measurements  of  his  lips.  While  the  work  was 
progressing  he  would  from  time  to  time  entertain  me 
with  reminiscences  and  anecdotes.  He  seemed  to  be 
fond  of  speaking  of  his  boyhood,  swimming  in  the 
Potomac — of  his  teacher,  Weir,  at  West  Point,  and  of 
the  Mexican  War.  I  was  also  much  interested  in 
hearing  his  comments  on  persons  and  things  of  a  more 
recent  date. 

I  think  from  the  beginning  that  the  General  must 
have  seen  that  I  was  fond  of  humor.  So  I  am,  but  it  is 
very  doubtful  whether  there  was  much  levity  about  me 
when  I  approached  for  the  first  time  this  grand  idol  of 
the  South.  I  had  been  told  of  his  noble  simplicity,  of  his 
gentle  and  kindly  bearing,  but  I  confess  that  I  could 
never  appreciate  how  these  qualities  could  ever  neu 
tralize  the  inquietude  which  I  felt  until  I  was  once  in 
his  company.  He  who  poses  for  a  bust  or  a  portrait  may 
be  expected  to  look  his  best,  or  what  at  least  may  appear 
to  him  his  best.  I  could  observe  no  difference  in  Gen 
eral  Lee's  manner  when  he  was  sitting  for  me  from  that 
which  was  his  ordinary  bearing.  After  I  had  made  some 
progress  with  the  work,  he  very  quietly  remarked, 
"They  say  Custis  is  like  me.  Let  him  come  now  and 
sit  for  you." 

One  day  during  the  sittings  he  asked  me  if  I  knew  a 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  151 

certain  sculptress,  and  then  began  repeating,  or  trying 
to  repeat,  some  syllables  of  the  name.  I  knew  whom  he 
meant  as  soon  as  he  asked  me  the  question,  but  I  let  him 
shoot  at  the  name  two  or  three  times  before  I  called  it, 
and  on  doing  so  he  said:  "Oh,  that  is  the  name!  Well, 
the  lady  wrote  me  a  very  polite  letter  in  which  she  asked 
if  I  would  give  her  sittings  for  a  bust,  at  the  same  time 
inclosing  photographs  of  some  of  her  works  which  were 
not  too  profusely  draped.  In  her  letter  she  also  asked 
when  she  could  come  to  make  the  bust,  and  a  friend, 
who  had  been  looking  at  the  pictures,  suggested  July  or 
August,  as  the  most  of  her  works  seemed  to  have  been 
done  in  the  summer-time." 

Every  artist  of  experience  in  portraiture  appreciates 
the  advantage  of  being  able  to  work  from  a  costume 
which  he  knows  has  been  worn  by  the  subject  whom  he 
has  to  represent.  I  could  not  expect  to  get  a  whole 
costume,  but  I  did  desire  to  be  the  possessor  of  a  pair  of 
the  General's  military  boots.  The  question  was  how  to 
get  them.  I  at  last  thought  of  the  expedient  of  ap 
proaching  the  subject  by  telling  my  sitter  an  anecdote 
of  an  office-seeker  who  begged  that  President  Andrew 
Jackson  would  consider  his  claim  as  a  Minister  to 
England.  In  reply  the  man  was  told  that  there  was 
already  a  Minister  at  the  Court  of  St.  James.  Then 
the  applicant  desired  to  be  sent  as  Secretary  of  Lega 
tion,  but  was  told  that  that  office  was  also  filled.  Then 
he  wished  to  be  sent  as  Consul,  but  there  was  no  va 
cancy.  "Well,  then,"  said  the  importunate  man,  "will 
you  give  me  the  place  of  Vice-Consul?"  "And  there  is 


152     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

no  vacancy  there  either,"  said  "Old  Hickory,"  sharply. 
"Well,  then,  Mr.  President,  would  you  give  me  a  pair 
of  old  boots?" 

"That  is  what  I  would  like  to  have  you  do  for  me, 
General,"  said  I. 

"I  think  there  is  a  pair  at  the  house  that  you  can 
have,"  said  he.  And  the  next  morning  the  General 
brought  them  under  his  arm  to  my  working-room,  and 
they  are  now  safely  stored  in  a  bank  in  Richmond. 
While  I  prize  them  most  highly,  they  were  not  exactly 
what  I  wanted.  I  was  in  hopes  that  he  would  give  me  a 
pair  of  military  boots  similar  to  those  which  I  have  often 
worked  from,  though  I  have  found  difficulty  in  getting 
a  man  of  any  size  who  could  pose  in  them  for  me. 
They  were  too  large  for  the  General.  The  size  of  the 
pair  he  gave  me  is  Number  4^  C,  and  they  are  dress 
boots.  Written  on  the  lining  is  the  following:  "R.  E. 
Lee,  U/S.  A." 

While  on  the  subject  of  costume,  I  may  mention  that 
the  General  wore  a  colonel's  uniform  in  the  army. 
There  was  scarcely  any  possibility  of  his  ever  being 
mistaken  for  an  under  officer,  however,  but  on  one 
occasion  a  subordinate  seemed  not  to  recognize  him. 
It  was  a  little  captain,  and  I  have  the  story  from  an  old 
soldier  who  witnessed  the  incident.  A  road  had  been 
very  badly  blocked  by  wagons,  and  General  Lee, 
seeing  that  it  was  impassable,  rode  up  and  ordered  the 
said  captain  to  have  it  cleared.  With  an  oath,  the  little 
fellow  refused  to  obey  the  command.  The  order  was 
repeated,  and  again  disobeyed.  "General  Lee  orders 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  153 

you  to  remove  those  wagons !"  said  the  Commander. 
And  no  sooner  had  the  name  fallen  upon  the  ears  of  the 
refractory  captain  than  his  shoulders  fell  upon  the 
wheels  of  the  wagons  with  all  the  strength  he  had.  My 
informant,  who  had  been  highly  amused  at  this  scene 
between  the  Southern  leader  and  his  subaltern,  stated 
that  after  the  General  had  disappeared  he  approached 
the  captain  and  asked  him  in  a  whisper,  "Who's  that 
old  gem'man  you  was  talkin'  to  jest  now?" 

The  experience  of  an  acquaintance  of  mine  is  another 
illustration  of  the  humor  of  the  General.  When  hos 
tilities  were  about  to  begin,  this  gentleman,  in  great 
despondence,  reported  to  the  General  that  it  would 
require  some  time  for  the  old  flint-lock  "shooting-irons" 
of  his  company  to  be  changed  into  percussion  locks.  He 
was  in  a  dilemma,  and  the  only  way  that  the  General 
could  suggest  to  get  him  out  of  his  difficulty  was  to 
"Telegraph  to  Mr.  Lincoln  to  have  the  war  put  off  for 
three  weeks." 

As  far  as  I  could  judge,  with  the  exception  of  the 
General's  family,  my  friend  the  late  Professor  J.  J. 
White,  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  was  the 
closest  person  in  Lexington  to  him.  The  two  were 
accustomed  to  take  long  rides  on  horseback  together. 
On  one  of  these  rides  they  were  overtaken  by  darkness, 
and  had  to  stop  overnight  at  a  farmhouse  by  the  road. 
It  so  happened  that  there  was  only  one  vacant  room  in 
the  house  and  one  bed  in  that,  which,  to  his  horror,  the 
professor  found  that  he  had  to  share  with  his  old 
commander.  It  had  to  be  done,  but  he  said  that  he 


154     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

"would  as  soon  have  thought  of  sleeping  with  the 
Archangel  Gabriel  as  with  General  Lee."  He  lay  for 
the  night  on  the  very  edge  of  the  bed,  and  did  not 
sleep  a  wink. 

While  General  Lee  never  posed  himself,  I  thought  it 
would  be  to  my  advantage  to  secure  pictures  of  him  in 
different  positions.  He  kindly  consented  to  go  to  a 
photograph  gallery,  and  I  had  several  taken  of 
him. 

On  one  other  occasion  during  my  visit  to  Lexington  he 
passed  through  another  ordeal.  Mrs.  Lee,  being  an  in 
valid,  could  not  go  to  the  room  where  the  bust  was 
modeled.  It  had  to  be  removed  to  her  parlor,  where 
were  assembled  a  number  of  visitors.  There  he  was  by 
the  good  wife  turned  in  different  positions  and  the  bust 
compared  with  the  original,  all  of  which  he  submitted 
to  without  a  murmur. 

The  last  time  I  ever  saw  General  Lee  was  on  a  sum 
mer's  afternoon  when  I  called  to  take  leave  of  him  at  his 
house.  A  gentleman  and  two  ladies  were  in  the  parlor 
at  the  time.  During  the  conversation  the  General  made 
a  remark  which  was  calculated  to  startle  the  company. 
"I  feel  that  I  have  an  incurable  disease  coming  on 
me,"  he  said — "old  age.  I  would  like  to  go  to  some 
quiet  place  in  the  country  and  rest." 

In  my  profession  I  meet  many  intelligent  strangers 
from  all  sections  of  this  country  and  from  abroad,  all  of 
whom  I  find  genuinely  interested  in  everything  con 
nected  with  General  Lee.  Those  who  had  the  privilege 
of  his  personal  acquaintance  at  once  recognize  a  charac- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  GENERAL  LEE  155 

ter  in  which  were  blended  the  noblest  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart. 

A  few  expressions  of  his  which  are  so  far  probably 
unknown  tell  the  story  of  his  life,  and  I  cannot  close 
without  adding  them: 

THE  TEST  OF  A  TRUE  GENTLEMAN 

The  forbearing  use  of  power  does  not  only  form  a  touchstone, 
but  the  manner  in  which  an  individual  enjoys  certain  advantages 
over  others  is  the  test  of  a  true  gentleman. 

The  power  which  the  strong  have  over  the  weak,  the  magistrate 
over  the  citizen,  the  employer  over  the  employed,  the  educated  over 
the  unlettered,  the  experienced  over  the  confiding,  even  the  clever 
over  the  silly — the  forbearing  or  inoffensive  use  of  all  this  power  or 
authority,  or  a  total  absence  from  it  when  the  case  admits  it,  will 
show  the  gentleman  in  plain  light.  The  gentleman  does  not  need 
lessly  or  unnecessarily  remind  an  offender  of  a  wrong  he  may  have 
committed  against  him.  He  can  not  only  forgive,  he  can  forget;  and 
he  strives  for  that  nobleness  of  self  and  mildness  of  character  which 
impart  sufficient  strength  to  let  the  past  be  the  past. 

A  true  gentleman  of  honor  feels  humbled  himself  when  he  cannot 
help  humbling  others. 

To  conclude,  the  whole  is  summed  up  in  one  single 
remark  which  I  shall  never  forget.  To  those  who  have 
read  that  most  entertaining  book,  Four  Years  with 
Marse  Robert,  by  the  late  Major  Robert  Stiles,  the 
following  sentence  will  be  of  interest.  It  forcibly  indi 
cates  what  General  Lee  thought  "the  best  thing  in  the 
world."  During  the  sittings  I  spoke  of  Major  Stiles, 
of  his  cleverness,  his  culture,  his  bravery  and  other 
attractive  qualities,  and  the  General  added:  "and, 
better  than  all,  he  is  a  Christian  gentleman." 

I  have  been  asked  whether  the  "Recumbent  Figure" 


156     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

represents  "Sleep  or  death."  The  lines  written  by 
my  sister,  the  late  Miss  Sarah  B.  Valentine,  express 
the  idea  which  I  wished  to  convey,  and  you  can  use 
them  in  your  volume  if  you  desire  to  do  so.  They  are 

as  follows: 

ON  SEEING  VALENTINE'S  MONUMENTAL 
FIGURE  OF  LEE 

LINES  BY  Miss  SARAH  B.  VALENTINE 

I  came  to  weep  at  a  sculptured  tomb, 

But,  lo!  no  death  was  there; 
For  I  saw  Life's  mystical  touch  illume 
Each  shadow  of  deep,  sepulchral  gloom 

With  light  celestial  fair: 
With  light  celestial  fair,  in  whose  gleam 

My  troubled  soul  grew  blest, 
As  its  glory  fell  on  the  marble  dream, 

Of  that  sleeper  who  lay  at  rest. 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR 

By  FRANKLIN  L.  RILEY,  Washington  and  Lee  University 

GENERAL  LEE  read  very  few  newspapers  and 
made  little  effort  to  inform  himself  about  the 
political  storm  that  raged  throughout  the 
country  after  the  war.  When  he  appeared  before 
the  Reconstruction  Committee  of  Congress  in  March, 
18665  he  knew  nothing  about  the  Stewart  plan  of  re 
construction  or  the  proposed  Fifteenth  Amendment, 
then  before  Congress,  saying  "I  scarcely  ever  read  a 
paper."  The  substance  of  this  pending  legislation  had 
to  be  explained  to  him  before  his  examination  could 
proceed.  Throughout  this  examination  he  emphasized 
the  fact  that  since  the  war  he  had  lived  "a  very  retired 
life,"  that  he  had  had  "but  little  communication  with 
politicians"  and  that  he  knew  nothing  more  than 
from  his  "own  observation"  and  from  such  facts  as 
had  come  to  his  knowledge. 

With  the  exception  of  a  single  reference  to  the 
Washington  Stary  the  New  York  Times ,  the  Watchman^ 
and  a  few  casual  references  to  other  papers,  not  named, 
his  letters  never  referred  to  current  newspapers.  In  a 
letter  of  October  28,  1867,  he  said  of  the  Seven  Weeks' 
War:  "At  the  time  of  the  occurrence,  I  thought  I  saw 
the  mistake  committed  by  the  Austrians;  but  I  did 
not  know  all  the  facts."  In  the  same  letter  he  refused 


158     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

to  review  a  book  on  this  war  because  he  did  not  have 
time  to  "sufficiently  study  the  campaign."  A  letter 
to  his  wife,  (August  14,  1879),  contains  a  passing 
reference  to  the  Franco-Prussian  War.  That  he  was 
interested  in  this  war  more  from  a  moral  than  from  a 
military  point  of  view,  is  shown  by  the  following  ex 
tract  from  a  letter  of  August  23,  1870: 

"I  have  watched,  with  much  anxiety,  the  progress  of  the  war 
between  France  and  Germany,  and  without  going  into  the  merits  of 
the  question  at  issue,  or  understanding  the  necessity  of  the  recourse 
to  arms,  I  have  regretted  that  they  did  not  submit  their  differences 
to  the  arbitration  of  the  other  Powers,  as  provided  in  the  articles  of 
the  treaty  of  Paris  of  1856.  It  would  have  been  a  grand  moral 
victory  over  the  passions  of  men,  and  would  have  so  elevated  the 
contestants  in  the  eyes  of  the  present  and  future  generations  as  to 
have  produced  a  beneficial  effect.  It  might  have  been  expecting, 
however,  too  much  from  the  present  standard  of  civilization,  and  I 
fear  we  are  destined  to  kill  and  slaughter  each  other  for  ages  to  come. 
...  As  far  as  I  can  read  the  accounts,  the  French  have  met  with 
serious  reverses,  which  seem  to  have  demoralized  the  nation  and 
are  therefore  alarming.  Whatever  may  be  the  issue,  I  cannot  help 
sympathizing  with  the  struggles  of  a  warlike  people  to  drive  invaders 
from  their  lands." 

From  these  facts  and  many  others  which  might  be 
cited,  one  feels  warranted  in  saying  that  General  Lee 
spent  no  time  after  the  war  in  the  study  of  military 
strategy  or  in  the  serious  study  of  any  of  the  European 
wars  of  that  day.  There  are  many  evidences  that  he 
became  a  civilian  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word.  One 
will  suffice:  "For  my  own  part/'  he  wrote,  "I  much 
enjoy  the  charms  of  civil  life,  and  find  too  late  that  I 
have  wasted  the  best  years  of  my  existence."  Yet 
his  life  as  a  civilian  was  not  one  of  ease.  It  was  filled 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       159 

with  numerous  exacting  duties  and  grave  responsi 
bilities  which  left  little  time  for  literary  recreation. 
The  following  brief  extracts,  taken  at  random  from  his 
letters,  will  suffice:  "I  have  been  continuously  occupied 
in  business  relating  to  the  institution1';  "My  present 
duties  occupy  all  my  time";  "My  duties  are  so  con 
stant  and  correspondence  so  large,  that  I  am  unable 
to  keep  pace  with  their  demands";  "I  cannot  under 
take  to  do  more";  "I  am  so  tired  sitting  at  my  table 
I  must  conclude";  "I  can  scarcely  keep  pace  with  my 
current  correspondence." 

For  the  most  part,  his  letters  afford  only  negative 
information  about  the  subject-matter  of  his  reading. 
For  instance,  he  wrote  (October  25,  1865),  to  some 
gentlemen  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  "I  have  not  read  the 
histories  of  the  late  war  to  which  you  refer,"  and  to 
his  cousin,  Dr.  Charles  Carter,  of  Philadelphia  he  also 
wrote  (April  17,  1867),  that  he  had  not  read  Pollard's 
Lost  Cause.  Yet  this  latter  book,  by  his  fellow  Vir 
ginian,  editor  of  the  Richmond  Examiner,  had  been 
published  in  1866.  A  few  months  later  (October  28, 
1867),  he  wrote  to  Dr.  A.  T.  Bledsoe,  then  editor  of  the 
Southern  Review,  acknowledging  that  he  had  not  read 
an  article  in  that  magazine  on  the  battle  of  Chancellors- 
ville  and  adding,  "nor  have  I  read  any  of  the  books 
published  on  either  side  since  the  termination  of 
hostilities.  I  have  as  yet  felt  no  desire  to  revive  my 
recollections  of  those  events,  and  have  been  satisfied 
with  the  knowledge  I  possessed  of  what  transpired." 
His  contempt  for  "catchpenny"  books  about  the  war 


160     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

was  shown  by  his  reply  to  an  enterprising  agent  who 
sought  his  indorsement  in  exchange  for  a  compli 
mentary  copy  of  a  so-called  history:  "You  must  excuse 
me.  Sir,  I  cannot  recommend  a  book  which  I  have  not 
read  and  never  expect  to  read." 

These  statements  will  not  warrant  one  in  concluding 
that  General  Lee  was  not  interested  in  history.  He 
made  personal  appeals  to  many  former  Confederate 
officers  to  record  the  histories  of  their  campaigns. 
He  advised  his  daughter,  Mildred:  "Read  history, 
works  of  truth,  not  novels,  and  romances.  Get  correct 
views  of  life  and  learn  to  see  the  world  in  its  true  light." 
In  one  of  his  most  sublime  paragraphs,  he  said:  "It  is 
history  that  teaches  us  to  hope/'  In  a  letter  expressing 
a  hope  that  Generals  Beauregard  and  Johnston  would 
write  histories  of  their  campaigns,  he  said:  "Everyone 
should  do  all  in  his  power  to  collect  and  disseminate 
the  truth,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  find  a  place  in  history 
and  descend  to  posterity."  His  interest  in  a  true 
history  of  the  war  was  further  shown  by  his  criticism 
of  a  glaring  inaccuracy,  which,  as  he  "learned  from 
others"  had  appeared  in  the  works  of  "various  authors 
of  the  'Life  of  Jackson.'" 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  General  Lee's  literary 
ambitions  were  along  the  lines  of  history  and  biography. 
The  first  of  these  was  the  preparation  of  a  complete 
history  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  Soon  after 
the  surrender  at  Appomattox  he  began  collecting 
materials  for  such  a  work.  In  the  summer  of  1865  he 
sent  a  circular  letter  to  many  of  his  old  officers  asking 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       161 

for  their  assistance  and  co-operation,  saying:  "I  am 
desirous  that  the  bravery  and  devotion  of  the  Army  of 
Northern  Virginia  be  transmitted  to  posterity.  This 
is  the  only  tribute  that  can  be  paid  to  the  worth  of  its 
noble  officers  and  soldiers."  Dr.  J.  Wm.  Jones  makes 
the  following  valuable  comment  on  this  phase  of 
General  Lee's  literary  activity: 

"Up  to  his  fatal  illness,  General  Lee  was  busily  engaged  in 
collecting  material,  and  seemed  very  anxious  to  write  a  history  of  his 
campaigns;  but  his  object  was  to  vindicate  others  rather  than  him 
self.  He  said  to  one  of  his  generals,  in  a  letter  asking  for  his  official 
reports:  'I  shall  write  this  history,  not  to  vindicate  myself,  or  to 
promote  my  own  reputation,  I  want  that  the  world  shall  know  what 
my  poor  boys,  with  their  small  numbers  and  scant  resources,  suc 
ceeded  in  accomplishing.'  " 

General  Lee  was  more  fortunate  in  his  second  literary 
ambition,  which  was  the  preparation  of  a  biographical 
sketch  of  his  father  for  a  new  edition  of  the  life  of  Gen. 
Henry  ("Light  Horse  Harry")  Lee.  The  manuscript 
of  this  "Biography,"  carefully  written  in  General 
Lee's  well-known  chirography  (105  pages),  is  now  in  a 
drawer  of  the  book-case  in  his  office  at  Washington 
and  Lee  University.*  It  was  published  by  the  Uni 
versity  Publishing  Company  under  the  title:  "Memoirs 
of  the  War  in  the  Southern  Department  of  the 
United  States,  by  Henry  Lee  .  .  .  with  Revisions 

*  With  his  characteristic  modesty,  General  Lee  said  in  the  preface  to  this 
book:  "The  incidents  from  which  the  biography  has  been  prepared  were  fur 
nished  to  the  editor  of  the  present  edition  by  his  oldest  brother,  Charles 
Carter  Lee,  so  that  he  had  only  to  select  from  the  materials  prepared  for 
him  what  he  deemed  appropriate  for  the  purpose."  But  the  facts  as  set 
forth  in  another  part  of  this  paper  will  show  that  the  editor  evidently  studied 
the  subject  for  himself. 


1 62     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

and  a  Biography  of  the  Author  by  Robert  E.  Lee." 
This  work  seems  to  have  been  finished  June  i,  1869, 
less  than  eighteen  months  before  General  Lee's  death. 
His  numerous  footnote  references  not  only  in  the 
Biography  *  but  throughout  the  volume,  the  latter  of 
which  are  designated  by  the  abbreviation,  "Ed./' 
indicate  that  his  investigations  were  characterized  by 
his  usual  patience  and  thoroughness. 

Were  there  any  relaxations  from  these  arduous 
literary  tasks,  which  evidently  consumed  much  of 
General  Lee's  rare  intervals  of  leisure?  I  am  glad  to 
say  there  were  occasions  when  he  permitted  himself 
to  read  for  sheer  pleasure. 

In  the  winter  of  1866  Mr.  Worsley,  an  English  ad 
mirer,  contributed  a  copy  of  his  translation  of  the 
Iliad  to  the  General's  meager  library.  In  acknowl 
edging  the  receipt  of  this  book,  General  Lee  wrote: 

"Its  perusal  has  been  my  evening's  recreation,  and  I  have  never 
enjoyed  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  the  poem  more  than  as  recited 
by  you.  The  translation  is  as  truthful  as  powerful,  and  faithfully 
reproduces  the  imagery  and  rhythm  of  the  bold  original. t 

*  These  references  in  his  biographical  sketch  embrace  the  following 
books:  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington;  Sparks'  Life  of  Washington;  Irving's 
Life  of  Washington;  Sparks'  Correspondence  of  Washington;  Life  of  Charles 
Lee;  Johnson's  Life  of  Greene;  Lee's  Observations  on  the  Writings  of  Jefferson; 
Elliott's  Debates;  Ramsay's  American  Revolution,  and  Custis'  Recollections  of 
Washington. 

t  Does  General  Lee's  appreciative  reference  to  the  "original"  convey  the 
idea  that  he  was  sufficiently  well  versed  in  the  Greek  language  to  appreciate 
"the  imagery  and  rhythm"  of  the  Iliad?  Undoubtedly,  since  General  Lee 
could  not  perpetrate  a  fraud  by  pretending  to  have  accomplishments  which 
he  did  not  possess.  His  biographers  give  an  account  of  his  early  training 
under  Mr.  W.  B.  Leary,  an  Irish  teacher,  from  whom,  before  entering  West 
Point,  he  "  acquired  that  knowledge  of  the  classics  and  fondness  for  them 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       163 

"The  undeserved  compliment  to  myself  in  prose  and  verse  on  the 
first  leaves  of  the  volume,  I  receive  as  your  tribute  to  the  merit  of 
my  countrymen  who  struggled  for  constitutional  government. "  * 

One  of  his  sons,  Capt.  R.  E.  Lee,  gives  a  delightful 
glimpse  into  his  father's  family  circle  shortly  after 
the  removal  to  Lexington:  "That  winter,"  says  he, 
"my  father  was  accustomed  to  read  aloud  in  the  long 
evenings  to  my  mother  and  sisters  'The  Grand  Old 
Bard,'  f  equally  to  his  own  and  his  listeners'  enjoy 


ment." 


General  Lee  must  have  derived  much  pleasure  from 
reading  also  the  Thoughts  of  the  Emperor  Marcus  Au- 
reliusy  a  copy  of  the  second  edition  of  which  came  from 
Professor  George  Long,  another  English  admirer.J 

Mr.  Valentine,  the  sculptor,  treasured  the  following 
remark  made  by  General  Lee  while  in  the  artist's 
studio  in  Richmond,  May,  1870:  "Misfortune  nobly 
borne  is  good  fortune."  This  sentiment  was  so  ap 
propriate  to  the  subject  of  their  conversation  that 
Mr.  Valentine  thought  it  was  original  with  General 
Lee  until  sometime  after  his  death.  In  after  years  this 
quotation  was  found  in  the  Meditations  of  Marcus 

which  surprised  some  of  his  friends  who  knew  only  of  his  military  education." 
General  Lee's  son  says  that  "even  with  Greek  he  seemed  somewhat  familiar 
and  would  question  the  students  as  to  their  knowledge  of  this  language, 
much  to  their  astonishment." 

*  Reference  is  here  made  to  Mr.  Worsley's  dedicatory  poem,  which  was 
written  on  a  fly  leaf  of  this  book.  See  page  105,  supra. 

|The  expression,  "The  grand  old  bard,"  is  taken  from  the  first  line  of 
the  beautiful  poem  in  which  Mr.  Worsley  dedicated  his  volume  to  General 
Lee. 

J  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Professor  Long  also  sent  with  his  book  a 
message,  expressing  a  hope  that  General  Lee  would  "leave  behind  him  some 
commentary  to  be  placed  on  the  same  shelf  with  Caesar's." 


164     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

Aurelius.  General  Lee  was  so  averse  to  every  appear 
ance  of  pedantry  that  he  used  this  noble  sentiment 
without  giving  the  source  from  which  it  came.* 

Captain  Lee  gives  us  a  further  glimpse  into  his 
father's  family  circle  by  the  statement  that  General 
Lee  would  often  read  to  his  invalid  wife  in  the  evenings. 

General  Lee's  private  library  after  the  war  was 
very  small,  since  the  books  left  at  Arlington  had  been 
scattered  during  hostilities.  The  meager  salary,  from 
which  he  supported  his  family  and  made  liberal  con 
tributions  to  religious  and  charitable  objects,  evidently 
afforded  little  means  for  the  purchase  of  new  books  for 
his  own  private  library,  though  he  bought  "a  collection 
of  suitable  books"  for  the  library  of  the  newly  organized 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  of  the  college.  His  principal  reliance  for 
books  while  in  Lexington  was  the  small  library  of 
Washington  College  and  the  more  important  library 
of  the  Franklin  Society.f  Fortunately  the  manuscript 
records  of  both  of  these  libraries  for  this  period  are 
still  accessible,  the  Franklin  Society  library  having 
been  presented  to  Washington  and  Lee  University  a 
number  of  years  ago.  These  records  show  that  General 
Lee  made  constant  use  of  both  of  these  libraries,  ex 
cept  in  the  summer  months,  from  February,  1866, 
until  December,  1869.! 

*  See  Mr.  Valentine's  article  in  this  volume. 

fThe  library  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute  had  been  destroyed 
when  the  buildings  were  burned  by  General  Hunter. 

\  January  21,  1918,  Dr.  E.  C.  Gordon,  who  was  librarian  of  Washington 
College  in  the  late  6o's  wrote:  "He  [General  Lee]  never  talked  with  me  about 
books,  ...  I  do  not  recall  ever  seeing  General  Lee  in  the  Library.  I  think, 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       165 

The  first  library  book  he  used  after  his  removal  to 
Lexington  was  Goldsmith's  Rome*  It  was  read  about 
the  time,  probably  immediately  after,  he  had  finished 
reading  Worsley's  Iliad^  referred  to  above.  An  ex 
amination  of  this  book  will  suggest  reasons  why  it 
appealed  to  General  Lee.  Chapter  I  treats  of  the  rise 
of  Julius  Caesar  and  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman 
Republic.  Chapter  II  treats  of  the  period  of  anarchy 
which  followed  Caesar's  death  and  the  final  settlement 
of  the  constitution  and  the  organization  of  the  Empire 
under  Augustus.  Chapters  III  and  IV  contain  many 
suggestive  passages  which  would  have  appealed  to  ex- 
Confederates  in  the  late  6o's,  when  they  had  many 
reasons  to  fear  wholesale  confiscation,  disfranchisement 
and  even  the  loss  of  life.  He  must  have  read  and  pon 
dered  many  sentences  like  the  following:  "The  most 
sacred  rights  of  nature  were  violated;  three  hundred 
senators;  and  above  two  thousand  knights  were  in 
cluded  in  this  terrible  proscription;  their  fortunes  were 

as  a  rule,  he  gave  me  lists  of  books  he  desired  and  I  brought  them  to  him  or 
took  them  to  his  house.  .  .  .  He  was,  of  course,  a  member  of  the  Franklin 
Society.  I  never  saw  him  at  any  of  the  meetings,  held  always  on  Saturday 
night;  and  I  suspect  he  never  attended;  though  now  and  then  we  discussed 
subjects  in  which  he  must  have  had  some  interest;  e.  g.,  this, '  Should  Ameri 
can  colleges  and  universities  open  their  doors  to  women?'  The  discussion  of 
this  ran  through  several  successive  meetings  of  the  society  and  set  the  town 
by  the  ears.  The  truth  is,  General  Lee  was  too  busy,  and  his  failing  energies 
too  much  taxed  to  do  a  good  deal  of  reading.  I  suspect  most  of  the  books  he 
read  bore  on  the  two  works  which  I  think  he  would  have  liked  to  complete 
and  publish:  Memoirs  of  his  father,  and  an  account  of  his  own  campaign, 
or  war-life." 

*  It  was  Volume  II  of  the  edition  of  1809,  now  in  the  library  of  Washington 
and  Lee  University.  It  seems  that  Volume  I  was  never  acquired  by  the 
Franklin  Society. 


1 66    GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

confiscated,  and  their  murderers  enriched  with  the 
spoil.-  (Page  38.) 

General  Lee  was  reading  this  book  when  the  clouds 
of  Reconstruction  had  begun  to  appear  above  our 
political  horizon.  Was  he  studying  the  causes  which 
led  to  the  overthrow  of  the  Roman  Republic  in  an 
effort  to  see  whether  similar  dangers  were  then  threaten 
ing  his  own  country?  Was  he  trying  to  get  light  from 
ancient  history  on  the  possible  course  of  events  in  his 
own  day?  He  could  not  then  know,  of  course,  that 
there  was  not  another  Augustus  Caesar  awaiting  an 
opportunity  to  overthrow  the  liberties  of  his  country. 
Perhaps  he  was  testing  his  axiom,  cited  above:  "It  is 
history  that  teaches  us  to  hope." 

In  April  or  May,  1866,  soon  after  his  return  from 
Washington,  where  he  was  examined  by  the  Recon 
struction  Committee  of  Congress,  he  read  the  writings 
of  Rev.  Alex.  B.  Grosart,  which  he  had  received  from 
the  author,  in  Liverpool,  England.  This  reading  was 
only  an  act  of  courtesy,  however. 

The  second  library  book  he  used  was  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Duchess  D' Abr antes  (Madame  Junot).  Un 
fortunately  the  particular  volume  which  he  read  can 
not  now  be  found.  The  three-volume  edition  of  this 
work  now  in  the  University  library  came  as  a  gift  from 
the  library  of  Dr.  Mercer  of  New  Orleans.*  Probably 
General  Lee's  interest  in  this  book,  came  from  his 
desire  to  write  an  account  of  his  own  campaigns.  He 

*  Dr.  Gordon  suggests:  "After  this  one-volume  copy  was  displaced  by  a 
three-volume  copy  from  the  Mercer  library,  it  somehow  disappeared." 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       167 

may  have  examined  it  for  the  purpose  of  learning  par 
ticularly  of  the  campaigns  of  Napoleon  as  treated  by 
the  wife  of  one  of  Napoleon's  generals.  On  the  other 
hand,  he  may  have  been  interested  in  the  conditions 
which  produced  this  modern  despot,  as  the  book  treats 
of  the  rise  of  Napoleon  and  the  events  leading  to  the 
establishment  of  his  Empire.  I  do  not  think  that  there 
are  any  sentiments  in  the  work  which  would  have  ap 
pealed  to  a  man  of  General  Lee's  character.  We  must 
note,  however,  that  this  was  the  beginning  of  a  study 
of  biography  which  extended  through  a  period  of  al 
most  a  year  and  a  half. 

Several  weeks  later  he  was  earnestly  at  work  on  his 
father's  Memoirs,  as  is  shown  by  a  letter  of  August  30, 
1866,  in  which  he  said  among  other  things,  "I  have 
long  wished  to  see  some  points  in  the  chapter  on  Ser 
geant  Champe  in  the  'Memoirs'  cleared  up."*  Then 
follows  a  discussion  of  sources  and  problems  connected 
with  the  relations  between  Sergeant  Champe  and 
Benedict  Arnold.  This  letter,  which  was  written  to 
Mr.  William  B.  Reed,  author  of  a  Life  of  General  Reed, 
closes  with  a  request  for  "any  facts  tending  to  decide 
the  matter."  The  biographical  sketch  of  his  father 
shows  that  he  made  liberal  use  of  documents  which 
he  obtained  from  Mr.  Reed. 

The  third  book,  in  chronological  order,  charged  to 
General  Lee  on  the  library  records,  was  Sparks'  Wash 
ington  (volume  omitted),  which  was  taken  out  the 
day  after  he  had  written  the  letter  just  referred  to. 

*  This  was  Chapter  XXX  of  the  book  he  was  editing. 


1 68     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

While  he  was  devoting  his  brief  and  irregular  periods 
of  leisure  to  the  study  of  history,  his  wife  *  and  daugh 
ters  at  Rockbridge  Baths,t  eleven  miles  distant,  were 
doubtless  reading  the  three  books  which  followed  on 
the  record:  Bleak  House,  and  Leo  the  Tenth,  Vols.  Ill 
and  IV.  Shortly  after  Mrs.  Lee's  return  home  a 
volume  of  Hood's  Works  was  also  taken  out  of  the 
library. 

In  December,  1866,  he  took  out  Marshall's  Washing 
ton,  Vols.  Ill,  IV  and  V,  and  Sparks'  Washington, 
Vol.  X,  and  American  Constitution  (edition  not  given). 
These  books  were  all  returned  December  27  and  30. 
This  must  have  been  the  period  of  General  Lee's  most 
intense  literary  activity  while  in  Lexington.  It  is 
worth  recording  that  in  this  period  he  wrote  a  very 

notable  letter  to  Lord  Acton.J 
With  the  beginning  of  the  new  year  (1867)  he  must 

*Mrs.  Lee  was  fond  of  reading,  and  was  "remarkably  well  read  in  general 
literature."  Her  son  says  that  she  was  "constantly  occupied  with  her 
books,  letters,  knitting  and  painting,  for  the  last  of  which  she  had  great 
talent."  Mrs.  Lee  wrote  a  Memoir  of  her  father,  General  George  Washing 
ton  Parke  Custis,  which  was  published  in  Philadelphia  (1859)  in  Custis' 
Recollections  and  Private  Memoirs  of  Washington  (pages  9-72).  She  also 
prepared  the  writings  of  her  father  for  publication,  as  they  appear  in  this 
volume  under  her  copyright.  The  Washington  and  Lee  University  library 
now  contains  a  copy  of  this  work,  on  the  fly  leaf  of  which  is  the  following, 
in  the  handwriting  of  Mrs.  Lee:  "The  Franklin  Library,  from  Mary  Custis 
Lee.  Lexington,  I2th  July,  1869." 

t  Captain  Lee  says  that  "every  summer  of  their  life  in  Lexington" 
General  Lee  arranged  that  his  wife  "  should  spend  several  months  at  one  of 
the  many  medicinal  springs  in  the  neighboring  mountains,  as  much  that 
she  might  be  surrounded  by  new  scenes  and  faces  as  for  the  benefit  of  the 
waters. " 

t  This  letter  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume. 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR        169 

have  been  busy  with  college  duties,  as  the  library  record 
shows  that  he  did  not  resume  his  literary  work  until 
February  1 9.  He  then  took  out  of  the  library  W  alburn's 
Biographical  Dictionary  and  a  Gazetteer  of  the  United 
States  (edition  not  given).  March  14,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  Ramsey's  American  Revolution  >  Vols.  I 
and  II,  and  later  (March  30)  to  Henning's  Statutes. 
About  this  time  he  wrote  that  he  had  received  "from 
Fitz  Lee  a  narrative  of  the  operations  of  his  division 
of  cavalry,"  and  he  asked  his  son,  General  W.  H.  F. 
Lee,  for  a  full  report  of  his  war  operations.  These 
glimpses  give  us  the  picture  of  a  busy  college  executive 
utilizing  his  small  fragments  of  spare  time  at  work  on 
his  twofold  literary  task. 

Up  to  this  time  he  had  made  use  of  the  Franklin 
Society  library  exclusively.  During  the  next  two  years 
he  used  books  only  from  the  college  library,  not  re 
turning  to  the  Franklin  Society  library  until  February 
24,  1869. 

April  3,  1867,  he  found  diversion  in  a  copy  of  Cal 
culus ,  his  first  choice  of  books  from  the  college  library. 
Three  weeks  later  he  procured  from  the  same  source  a 
copy  of  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary ,  which  as 
far  as  the  record  shows  was  not  returned. 

In  July  and  August  of  that  year  he  was  at  White 
Sulphur  and  Old  Sweet  Springs  with  his  family,  pri 
marily  for  his  wife's  health.  At  the  latter  place  he 
was  taken  ill.  This  prevented  his  return  to  Lexington 
until  the  middle  of  September,  just  before  the  opening 
of  the  session.  He  wrote  to  one  of  his  sons  (September 


170     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

20):  "I  am  still  so  feeble  that  I  cannot  attend  to  the 
business  of  the  college."  A  month  later  (October  25) 
he  wrote:  "I  have  been  quite  sick  but  am  better  now." 
Yet,  a  fortnight  before  this  latter  date  he  had  returned 
to  his  literary  task,  using  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington, 
Vols.  Ill,  IV  and  V.  With  the  return  of  these  three 
volumes  (November  14)  I  find  no  evidence  from  the 
library  record  of  any  further  serious  study  on  his  part, 
though  he  did  not  send  the  "Biography"  of  his  father 
and  the  notes  to  the  volume  he  was  editing  to  the  press 
until  June  i,  1869,  judging  by  the  date  of  the  Preface. 

The  Christmas  season  of  1867  found  only  two 
library  books  in  his  home.  These  were  Goldsmith's 
Vicar  of  Wakefield  and  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress. 
What  appropriate  selections  for  Christmas  reading! 
One  wonders  whether  the  General  still  read  aloud  to 
his  family  "in  the  long  evenings"  of  that  winter,  as  he 
had  done  in  other  years. 

As  intimated  above,  there  was  a  marked  change  in 
the  character  of  his  reading  after  1867.  From  that 
date  he  used  no  more  library  books  on  American  his 
tory  or  biography.  Poetry,  choice  fiction,  current 
magazines  and  European  history  fill  the  remainder  of 
the  library  record.  Did  he  regard  his  recent  sickness 
as  an  evidence  of  failing  strength  and  a  warning  that 
his  literary  activity  must  cease?  Possibly  so,  though 
Captain  Lee  felt  sure  that  by  the  latter  part  of  January 
his  father  "had  fully  recovered."  It  is  more  probable 
that  this  change  from  his  own  unfinished  task  was 
prompted  by  the  literary  tastes  of  his  invalid  wife,  who 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       171 

as  he  said,  suffered  that  winter  and  spring  "more 
than  usual  .  .  .  from  her  rheumatic  pains."  His 
son,  Captain  Lee,  tells  us:  "He  sat  with  her  daily, 
entertaining  her  with  accounts  of  what  was  doing  in 
the  college,  and  the  news  of  the  village,  and  would 
often  read  to  her  in  the  evenings." 

The  college  library  contributed,  January  7,  1868, 
two  large  illustrated  volumes  of 'Favorite  English  Poems  * 
to  the  entertainment  of  the  household.  These  books, 
still  in  the  university  library,  are  "illustrated  with 
300  engravings  on  wood."  Volume  I  contains  a  col 
lection  of  choice  poems  from  Chaucer  to  Pope,  Volume 
II,  from  "Thomson  to  Tennyson."  That  they  were 
read  with  interest  in  indicated  by  the  fact  that  they 
were  renewed  January  24  and  were  kept  out  until 
February  n.  Robinson  Crusoe  then  came  in  for  a  six 
days'  reading,  perhaps  by  General  Lee's  little  niece, 
who  was  a  member  of  his  household  that  session. 

But  General  Lee  was  a  man  of  action,  and  books 
alone  could  not  supply  the  recreation  he  needed.  He 
wrote  (March  10):  "Our  winter  which  has  been  long 
and  cold  I  hope  now  is  over,"  adding  "My  only  pleas 
ure  is  in  my  solitary  evening  rides,  which  give  me 
abundant  opportunity  for  quiet  thought."  Within  a 
fortnight  he  was  able  to  write  that  two  or  three  rides 
on  Traveller  "in  the  mud"  had,  he  thought,  benefited 
him. 

About  this  time  (March  28),  he  received   from  the 

*  The  entry  on  the  record,  "Favorite  Poets  of  England,  111.,  2  vols.,"  is 
evidently  a  mistake,  as  there  were  no  books  with  that  title  in  the  library. 


172     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

library  a  two- volume  edition  of  the  Life  of  Goethe  to  be 
followed,  two  days  later,  by  a  copy  of  Faust.  All  of 
these  were  returned  May  4.  He  then  read,  with  much 
interest,  I  am  sure,  the  first  volume  of  Dr.  Kane's 
Arctic  Expedition.  Probably  the  author,  who  saw 
service  as  an  army  surgeon  in  the  Mexican  War,  was  a 
personal  acquaintance.  The  last  library  book  used 
that  spring  was  a  volume  of  Shakespeare's  Works 
(edition  not  given).  As  there  were  then  four  editions 
of  Shakespeare  in  the  college  library,  it  is  impossible 
to  say  which  plays  of  that  great  author  were  read. 

In  the  summer  of  1868,  he  made  another  effort  to 
find  recreation  and  restoration  of  health  for  his  invalid 
wife  at  some  of  the  many  celebrated  health  resorts 
near  Lexington.  Additional  cares  also  came  with  the 
sickness  of  his  daughter,  Mildred,  who  had  typhoid 
fever  while  at  Warm  Springs.  He  nursed  her  back  to 
health  in  time  to  return  to  Lexington  for  the  opening 
of  the  session  of  1868-9. 

Then  followed  a  period  of  over  six  months  in  which 
he  read  nothing  from  the  library,  except  current  maga 
zines,  three  issues  of  the  New  Eclectic  *  and  nine  of 
Blackwood's  Magazines. \  In  the  August  (1868)  New 
Eclectic,  he  found  a  criticism  of  George  Bancroft's 
theory  as  set  forth  in  his  History  of  the  United  States 

*  Issues  of  August,  September  and  October,  1868,  which  were  taken  out 
October  14  and  returned  November  14. 

t  Issues  of  February,  April,  May,  July,  August,  September  and  October 
(1868),  which  were  taken  out  December  17  and  returned  January  13,  fol 
lowing.  The  issues  for  December  (1868)  and  January  (1869),  were  taken 
out  in  January  and  February  respectively. 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       173 

that  the  influence  of  the  Cavalier  element  in  Virginia 
was  insignificant  on  the  events  leading  to  the  American 
Revolution.     The   critic    indorsed    the   view   of  Mr. 
Rives  in  his  Life  of  James  Madison  that  many  leaders 
of  the  Revolution  in  Virginia  were  descendants  of  the 
loyal  supporters  of  Charles  I  against  the  Long  Par 
liament,  among  whom  were  the  first  cousin  of  Wash 
ington's  grandfather,  the  paternal  ancestor  of  George 
Mason,  the  ancestors  of  Archibald  Cary,  the  Lees,  the 
Elands,  the  Carters,  the  Randolphs,  the  Digges,  the 
Byrds,  etc.     This  issue  also  contains  Father  Ryan's 
poem  on  "The  Downtrodden  Land."    The  September 
New   Eclectic   has    articles   on    "Free   Religion"    and 
"Luther  and  Germany."     The  October  issue  of  this 
same  magazine  contains  articles  on   "The  Northern 
and  the  Southern  Poet"  (Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  and 
Father    Ryan),    "The    Unsettled    State    of  Europe" 
and   a  poem   by  Sidney  Lanier,   entitled   "Life   and 
Song." 

BlackwoocTs  Magazine  for  September,  1868,  was 
taken  out  November  14  and  "returned"  (date  not 
given).  Then,  December  17,  it  was  taken  out  again 
with  six  other  issues  of  the  same  magazine.  In  Janu 
ary,  1869,  he  also  took  out  the  December  issue  and  in 
February  the  January  issue  of  the  same  magazine.  It 
is  evident  from  an  examination  of  the  contents  of  these 
issues  that  the  reader  was  interested  in  only  one  article, 
since  it  appeared  by  installments  in  the  copies  taken 
from  the  library.  Other  copies,  those  of  March,  June 
and  November,  1868,  would  also  have  been  taken, 


174     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

if  he  had  cared  to  read  the  magazines  in  chronological 
order,  without  reference  to  any  particular  article. 
This  article  is  entitled  "Historical  Sketches  of  the 
Reign  of  George  II."  A  perusal  of  it  will  convince  one 
of  the  importance  of  this  somewhat  neglected  period 
of  English  history,  and  of  the  excellence  of  the  literary 
taste  of  a  reader  who  finds  pleasure  in  it.  The  sub-title 
of  the  first  installment  is  "The  Queen"  (Caroline);  of 
the  second,  "The  Minister"  (Sir  Robert  Walpole);  of 
the  third,  "The  Man  of  the  World"  (Lord  Chester 
field);  of  the  fourth,  "Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montagu"; 
of  the  fifth,  "The  Poet"  (Pope);  of  the  sixth  "The 
Young  Chevalier"  (Charles  Stuart,  the  Pretender); 
of  the  seventh,  "The  Reformer"  (John  Wesley);  of 
the  eighth,  "The  Sailor"  (Admiral  Anson);  of  the 
ninth,  "The  Philosopher"  (Bishop  Berkeley).  The 
issues  for  March,  June,  and  August,  1869,  in  which 
appeared  the  remainder  of  the  series,  on  "The  Novelist" 
(Samuel  Richardson);  "The  Sceptic"  (David  Hume); 
"The  Painter"  (Hogarth),  do  not  appear  on  General 
Lee's  library  record. 

Four  days  after  taking  out  the  issue  of  Blackwood's 
which  contains  the  sketch  of  Admiral  Anson,  he  turned 
to  the  fifth  volume  of  Macaulay's  England.  This 
choice  shows  that,  though  still  interested  in  English 
history,  the  reader  went  from  the  reign  of  George  II 
back  to  the  last  days  of  William  III.  Eight  days  later 
this  book  was  returned. 

A  book  entitled  Queens  of  the  Country  then 
follows  on  the  record  (March  7).  It  was  probably 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       175 

Mrs.  Jameson's  Memoirs  of  Celebrated  Female  Sov 
ereigns,  since  this  is  the  only  volume  now  in  the 
University  library,  whose  title  resembles  that  given 
in  the  record.  This  volume  may  have  been  chosen 
for  its  sketch  of  Queen  Anne,  in  order  to  link  together 
the  periods  of  English  history  which  had  already  re 
ceived  attention. 

The  remainder  of  the  spring  of  1869  was  devoted  to 
French  history.  From  March  15  to  April  4  use  was 
made  of  volumes  I  and  2  of  Miss  Pardoe's  Louis  XIV; 
April  7  to  June  19,  of  Beauchesne's  Louis  the  Seven 
teenth.  Meantime  Houssaye's  Men  and  Women  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century ,  Vol.  II  (French  biography),  had 
been  used  from  May  2  to  June  2.  Interest  in 
French  history  was  undoubtedly  aroused  by  the  then 
strained  relations  between  France  and  her  northern 
neighbor,  which  soon  culminated  in  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War. 

That  summer  General  Lee  was  at  home  until  after 
the  middle  of  July  to  attend  a  meeting  of  the  Virginia 
Education  Association,  which  was  held  in  Lexington. 
In  the  latter  part  of  that  month  he  took  Mrs.  Lee  to 
Rockbridge  Baths,  which  she  had  "made  up  her  mind 
to  visit."  "After  seeing  her  comfortably  located"  he 
expected  to  go  with  two  of  his  daughters  to  the  White 
Sulphur  Springs  for  a  few  weeks,  on  the  advice  of  his 
physicians.  He  wrote  to  his  son,  General  W.  H.  F.  Lee, 
"I  am  obliged  now  to  consider  my  health."  The  sud 
den  death  of  his  brother  upset  his  plans  while  at  Rock- 
bridge  Baths.  This  took  him  to  Alexandria  to  attend 


176     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

the  funeral.  He  decided  to  return  to  Lexington  by 
way  of  Richmond,  making  a  short  visit  to  his  son  at 
the  "White  House"  on  the  James  River.  August  10, 
he  wrote  to  his  wife  from  White  Sulphur  Springs,  giving 
his  objections  to  the  plan  of  the  publisher  of  his  father's 
Memoirs  to  insert  a  portrait  of  himself  in  the  volume 
and  asking  for  her  "suggestions."  By  the  end  of 
August  he  was  back  in  Lexington.  That  autumn  his 
rides  on  Traveller  were  less  frequent  and  more  fa 
tiguing,  and  there  were  other  evidences  that  his  strength 
was  failing.  In  November  he  contracted  a  severe 
cold,  which  was  the  beginning  of  the  attack  that  was 
to  prove  fatal.  In  December  he  wrote  that  he  was 
better,  adding  "The  doctors  still  have  me  in  hand, 
but  I  fear  can  do  no  good."  In  fact,  he  seemed  to  realize 
from  the  beginning  that  this  attack  was  mortal. 

Under  these  circumstances,  one  would  not  expect  to 
find  evidence  of  extensive  reading.  Yet  on  November 
20  two  issues  of  Blackwood's  Magazine  were  brought 
to  his  sick  room.  One  of  these,  the  issue  of  July,  1864, 
contained  articles  on  "The  Education  and  Training 
of  Naval  Officers"  and  "The  Napoleonic  Idea  in 
Mexico."  The  other,  the  issue  for  January,  1860, 
contained  an  article  on  "Rambles  at  Random  in  the 
Southern  States,"  which  gives  the  observations  of 
an  English  traveler  of  keen  though  sympathetic 
mind,  who  had  spent  some  time  in  the  South  before 
the  war. 

Here  the  library  record  closes.  It  reveals  the  fact 
that  his  library  reading,  during  his  five  years  in  Lex- 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       177 

ington,  which  had  carried  him  into  many  countries 
and  into  different  periods  of  history  and  literature 
ended  with  a  delightful  article  on  his  own  beloved 
Southland. 

This  sketch  would  fall  far  short  of  a  true  presentation 
of  what  General  Lee  read  after  the  war,  if  it  should 
omit  his  two  favorite  books,  which  he  always  kept  in 
his  small  private  library,  and  which  were  in  constant 
use.  These  were  the  Episcopal  prayer  book  and  the 
Bible.  His  appreciation  of  his  prayer  book  is  shown 
by  his  desire  to  supply  copies  to  the  soldiers  who 
wished  for  them,  and  his  present  of  a  dozen  copies, — • 
all  he  had,  save  one,  to  as  many  soldiers.  One 
of  his  sons  says  that  "family  prayers  .  .  .  were 
read  every  morning  just  before  breakfast,"  which 
was  served  at  seven  o'clock,  and  another  son  warned 
his  wife  that  "  to  please  his  father,  she  must  be  always 
ready  for  family  prayers."  His  daughter-in-law  said 
that  "she  did  not  believe  that  General  Lee  would  have 
an  entirely  high  opinion  of  any  person,  even  General 
Washington,  if  he  could  return  to  earth,  if  he  were  not 
ready  for  prayers!" 

But  the  greatest  of  all  books  in  his  estimation  was 
the  Bible.  Upon  appropriate  occasions,  he  quoted  its 
precepts,  but  never  in  the  spirit  of  cant.  In  reproof 
of  a  minister  who  had  said  harsh  things  about  the 
North  in  connection  with  General  Lee's  indictment 
for  treason,  he  said:  "Doctor,  there  is  a  good  book, 
which  I  read  and  you  preach  from,  which  says:  'Love 
your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to 


178     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

them  that  hate  you  and  pray  for  them  that  despite- 
fully  use  you." 

During  the  war,  "even  amid  his  most  active  cam 
paigns,  he  found  time  to  read  every  day  some  portion 
of  God's  Word."  The  habit,  followed  so  tenaciously 
on  the  field,  was  never  given  up  in  the  quietude  of  the 
home;  for  he  could  then  have  his  "regular  seasons  for 
this  delightful  exercise."  His  appreciation  of  the 
Bible  was  shown  by  his  interest  in  the  Rockbridge 
County  Bible  Society,  of  which  he  was  president  from 
the  time  of  its  reorganization  after  the  war  (1868), 
until  his  death.  In  his  letter,  accepting  this  position, 
he  spoke  of  his  desire  to  help  extend  "  the  inestimable 
knowledge  of  the  priceless  truths  of  the  Bible."  In 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  Bible  from  some  English 
admirers  he  referred  to  it  as  "a  book  in  comparison 
with  which  all  others  in  my  eyes  are  of  minor  im 
portance,  and  which  in  all  my  perplexities  and  dis 
tresses  has  never  failed  to  give  me  light  and  strength." 
In  a  letter  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  a  beautiful 
Bible  for  use  in  the  college  chapel  he  said,  "it  is  a 
book  which  supplies  the  place  of  all  others,  and  one 
that  cannot  be  replaced  by  any  other."  The  day 
after  his  death  a  watcher  by  his  body  noticed  on  the 
table  "a  well-used  pocket  Bible,  in  which  was 
written,  .  .  .  *R.  E.  Lee,  Lieutenant-colonel,  U.  S. 
Army.'"  *  He  says:  "As  I  turned  its  leaves  and 
saw  how  he  had  marked  many  passages,  especially 

*  See  Dr.  J.  William  Jones'  article  in  this  volume  on  "The  Christian 
Character  of  Robert  E.  Lee." 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR       179 

those  teaching  the  great  doctrines  of  Salvation  by 
Grace,  Justification  by  Faith,  or  those  giving  the 
more  precious  promises  to  the  believer,  I  thought  of 
how,  with  simple  faith,  he  took  this  blessed  Book  as 
the  man  of  his  counsel  and  the  light  of  his  pathway; 
how  its  precious  promises  cheered  him  amid  the  afflic 
tions  and  trials  of  his  eventful  life;  and  how  its  glorious 
hopes  illuminated  for  him  the  'valley  and  shadow  of 
death/" 


APPENDIX 

Books  taken  by  General  Robert  E.  Lee  from  the  Franklin  Society  Library 
and  the  Washington  College  Library. 
*  — Franklin  Society  Library,  f — Washington  College  Library. 

Date   Taken  Out         Titles  Date  Returned 

1866 

*  Feb.  20th Goldsmith's  Rome Apr.  4th 

*  June  5th Madame  D'Abrantes July  ist 

*  Sept.  ist Sparks'  Washington Jan.  4,  1867 

*  Sept.  I2th Bleak  House Nov.  10,  1866 

*  Sept.  24th Leo  the  Tenth,  Vols.  3  and  4 Nov.  10,  1866 

*Nov.  loth Hood's  Works Nov.  19,  1866 

*  Dec.  ist Marshall's  Washington,  Vol.  3 Dec.  30,  1866 

*  Dec.  6th Marshall's  Washington,  Vols.  4  and  5 Dec.  30,  1866 

*  Dec.  22nd Sparks'  Washington,  Vol.  10 Dec.  27,  1866 

*  Dec.  22nd American  Constitutions Dec.  27,  1866 


180     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

Date  Taken  Out         Titles  Date  Returned 

1867 

*  Feb.  ipth Walburn's  Biographical  Dictionary Mch.  9,  1867 

*  Feb.  iQth Gazetteer  of  the  United  States Mch.  9,  1867 

*  Mch.  I4th Ramsey's  American  Revolution,  Vols.  I  &  2.Mch.  23, 1867 

*  Mch.  30th Henning's  Statutes Apr.  4,  1867 

t  Apr.  3rd Calculus May  16,  1867 

t  May  i6th Webster's  Dictionary,  unabridged 

*  Oct.  1 2th Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  Vols.  3, 

4  and  5 Nov.  14,  1867 

t  Dec.  I3th Goldsmith's  Vicar  of  Wakefield Jan.  10,  1868 

t  Dec.  i3th Pilgrim's  Progress Jan.  24,  1868 

1868 

t  Jan.  7th Favorite  Poets  of  England.  111.  2  Vols. . . .  Jan.  24,  1868 

t  Jan.  24th Favorite  Poets  of  England.  111.  2  Vols —  Feb.  1 1,  1868 

f  Feb.  i  ith Robinson  Crusoe Feb.  17,  1868 

t  Mch.  28th Life  of  Goethe,  2  vols May  4,  1868 

t  Dr.  Kane's  Arctic  Expedition.  Vol  I June  3,  1868 

t  May  6th Shakespeare,  III 

t  Oct.  Hth New  Eclectic,  Aug.,  Sept.,  Oct.,  1868.  .  ..Nov.  14,  1868 

f  Nov.  I4th Blackwood's  for  September "  Returned  " 

f  Dec.  I7th Blackwood's  for  Feb.,  Apr.,  May,  July, 

Aug.,  Sept.,  and  Oct Jan.  13,  1869 

1869 

t  Jan.  I3th Blackwood's  for  December "Returned" 

t  Feb.  20th Blackwood's  for  Jan Mch.  4,  1869 

*  Feb.  24th Macaulay's  Eng.,  Vol.  5 Mch.  3,  1869 

*  Mch.  7th Queens  of  the  Country Mch.  15,  1869 

*Mch.  isth Louis  XIV.,  Vols.  i  and  2 Apr.  4,  1869 

*  Apr.  7th Louis  Napoleon  and  His  Times May  6,  1869 


WHAT  GENERAL  LEE  READ  AFTER  THE  WAR        181 

Date  Taken  Out        Title  Date  Returned 

1869 

*  May  8th Louis  the  Seventeenth June  19,  1869 

*  May  2nd Women  of  the    Eighteenth    Century 

Vol.  2 June  2»  l869 

*  Nov.  20th Blackwood's  for  July,  1864 Dec.  15,  1869 

*  Nov.  20th .  .     . .  Blackwood's  for  January,  1860 Dec.  15,  1869 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E. 

LEE. 

By  REV.  J.  WILLIAM  JONES 

This  contribution  appeared  in  the  "Lee  Memorial  Number"  of  the  Wake 
Forest  Student,  published  in  January,  1907. — Editor. 

THERE  is  a  natural  tendency  to  conceal  the 
faults  and  exalt  the  virtues  of  great  men. 
Those  whose  lives  gave  no  evidence  whatever 
of  Christian  or  even  moral  character  have  been  written 
up,  by  their  eulogists,  as  saints  whom  the  world  should 
warmly  admire  if  not  worship.  There  have  been  in 
these  later  years  some  very  sad  examples  of  this,  which 
might  be  cited  if  it  were  proper  to  do  so.  This  makes 
intelligent  readers  disposed  to  receive  cum  grano  salis 
what  may  be  said  of  the  Christian  character  of  any 
public  man. 

Some  years  ago  an  intelligent  minister  in  one  of 
our  Southern  States  wrote  an  elaborate  article  in  one 
of  the  papers  on  the  question:  "Was  General  R.  E. 
Lee  a  real  Christian?"  He  seriously  doubted  whether 
he  was  more  than  a  mere  formal  professor  of  religion. 
Now  I  think  I  can  answer  this  question  from  intimate 
personal  acquaintance  and  observation.  During  the 
four  years  of  the  great  War  between  the  States,  as 
private  soldier  or  as  chaplain,  I  followed  the  standard 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE     183 

of  Lee,  coming  into  somewhat  frequent  contact  with 
him,  and  learning  much  of  his  character  and 
actions. 

But  especially  during  his  five  years'  life  in  Lexington, 
Virginia,  as  one  of  the  chaplains  of  Washington  Col 
lege,  over  which  he  presided,  I  came  into  almost  daily 
and  intimate  association  with  him,  and  learned  to 
know  and  love  the  great  soldier  as  a  humble,  conse 
crated  follower  of  the  Captain  of  our  Salvation. 

I  speak,  therefore,  not  from  hearsay,  or  the  state 
ments  of  others,  but  I  speak  from  intimate  personal 
acquaintance  when  I  write  on  the  Christian  character 
of  Robert  Edward  Lee,  the  greatest  soldier  of  history, 
and  the  model  man  of  the  centuries. 

I  can  never  forget  my  first  interview  and  conversa 
tion  with  General  Lee  on  religious  matters.  It  was  in 
1863,  while  our  army  was  resting  along  the  Rapidan, 
soon  after  the  Gettysburg  campaign.  Rev.  B.  T.  Lacy 
and  myself  went,  as  a  committee  of  our  chaplains' 
association,  to  consult  him  in  reference  to  the  better 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  in  the  army,  and  especially 
to  urge  that  something  be  done  to  prevent  irreligious 
officers  from  converting  Sunday  into  a  grand  gala-day 
for  inspections,  reviews,  etc.  It  was  a  delicate  mission. 
We  did  not  wish  to  appear  as  either  informers  or 
officious  intermeddlers,  and  yet  we  were  very  anxious 
to  do  something  to  further  the  wishes  of  those  who 
sent  us,  and  to  put  a  stop  to  what  was  then  a  growing 
evil,  and,  in  some  commands,  a  serious  obstacle  to 
efficient  work  of  the  chaplain.  The  cordial  greeting 


1 84     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

which  he  gave  us,  the  marked  courtesy  and  respect  with 
which  he  listened  to  what  we  had  to  say,  and  the  way 
he  expressed  his  warm  sympathy  with  the  object  of 
our  mission,  soon  put  us  at  ease.  But,  as  we  presently 
began  to  answer  his  questions  concerning  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  army,  and  to  tell  of  that  great  revival 
which  was  then  extending  through  the  camps,  and 
bringing  thousands  of  our  noble  men  to  Christ,  we 
saw  his  eye  brighten  and  his  whole  countenance  glow 
with  pleasure;  and  as,  in  his  simple,  feeling  words,  he 
expressed  his  delight,  we  forgot  the  great  warrior,  and 
only  remembered  that  we  were  communing  with  a 
humble,  earnest  Christian.  When  Mr.  Lacy  told  him 
of  the  deep  interest  which  the  chaplains  felt  in  his 
welfare,  and  that  their  most  fervent  prayers  were 
offered  in  his  behalf,  tears  started  in  his  eyes,  as  he 
replied,  "I  sincerely  thank  you  for  that,  and  I  can 
only  say  that  I  am  just  a  poor  sinner,  trusting  in  Christ 
alone  for  salvation,  and  that  I  need  all  the  prayers 
you  can  offer  for  me." 

The  next  day  he  issued  a  beautiful  order  in  which  he 
enjoined  the  observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  that  all 
military  duties  should  be  suspended  on  that  day  except 
such  as  were  absolutely  necessary  to  the  safety  or 
subsistence  of  the  army. 

General  Lee  always  took  the  deepest  interest  in  the 
work  of  his  chaplains  and  the  spiritual  welfare  of  his 
men.  He  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the  chaplains' 
meetings,  and  a  deeply  interested  observer  of  their 
proceedings;  and  the  faithful  chaplain  who  stuck  to 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE     185 

his  post  and  did  his  duty  could  always  be  assured  of  a 
warm  friend  at  headquarters. 

While  the  Army  of  Northern  Virginia  confronted 
General  Meade  at  Mine  Run,  near  the  end  of  Novem 
ber,  1863,  and  a  battle  was  momentarily  expected, 
General  Lee,  with  a  number  of  general  and  staff  officers, 
was  riding  down  his  line  of  battle,  when,  just  in  the 
rear  of  Gen.  A.  P.  Hill's  position,  the  cavalcade  sud 
denly  came  upon  a  party  of  soldiers  engaged  in  one  of 
those  prayer-meetings  which  they  so  often  held  on  the 
eve  of  battle.  An  attack  from  the  enemy  seemed  im 
minent;  already  sharpshooting  along  the  skirmish 
line  had  begun,  the  artillery  was  belching  forth  its 
hoarse  thunder,  and  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  great 
chieftain  were  full  of  the  expected  combat.  Yet,  as 
he  saw  the  ragged  veterans  bowed  in  prayer,  he  in 
stantly  dismounted,  uncovered  his  head,  and  devoutly 
joined  in  the  simple  worship.  The  rest  of  the  party 
at  once  followed  his  example,  and  those  humble  privates 
found  themselves  leading  the  devotions  of  their  loved 
and  honored  chieftains. 

It  is  related  that  as  his  army  was  crossing  the  James, 
in  1864,  and  hurrying  on  to  the  defense  of  Petersburg, 
General  Lee  turned  aside  from  the  road,  and,  kneeling 
in  the  dust,  devoutly  joined  a  minister  in  earnest 
prayer  that  God  would  give  him  wisdom  and  grace 
in  the  new  stage  of  the  campaign  upon  which  he  was 
then  entering. 

I  was  one  day  distributing  tracts  and  religious  news 
papers  in  our  trenches  below  Petersburg  when  I  noticed 


1 86     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

a  brilliant  cavalcade  approaching.  Generals  Lee, 
A.  P.  Hill,  and  John  B.  Gordon,  with  their  staffs,  were 
inspecting  our  lines,  and  reconnoitering  those  of  the 
enemy.  I  stepped  to  one  side,  expecting  simply  to 
give  them  the  military  salute  as  they  passed.  But  the 
quick  eye  of  Gordon  recognized  me,  and  his  cordial 
grasp  detained  me  as  he  eagerly  inquired  after  my  work. 
General  Lee  reined  in  his  horse,  the  others  also  stopped, 
and  the  humble  chaplain  found  himself  surrounded 
by  a  group  of  whose  notice  he  might  well  be  proud. 
A.  P.  Hill,  my  old  colonel  and  life-long  friend,  said: 
"John  (as  he  always  familiarly  addressed  me),  don't 
you  think  the  boys  would  prefer  ' hard-tacks'  to  tracts 
just  now?"  "I  have  no  doubt  that  many  of  them 
would,"  I  replied,  "but  they  crowd  around  and  take 
the  tracts  as  eagerly  as  they  surround  the  commissary 
when  he  has  anything  to  *  issue';  and  besides  other 
advantages,  the  tracts  certainly  help  them  to  bear 
the  lack  of  'hard-tack.'"  "I  have  no  doubt  of  it," 
he  said,  "and  I  am  glad  that  you  are  able  to 
supply  the  tracts  more  abundantly  then  we  can  the 


rations." 


General  Lee  joined  in  the  conversation,  and  pres 
ently  asked  if  I  ever  had  calls  for  prayer  books.  I 
told  him  that  I  frequently  had,  and  often  distributed 
them.  He  replied,  "Well,  you  would  greatly  oblige 
me  if  you  would  call  at  my  quarters,  and  get  and  dis 
tribute  a  few  which  I  have.  I  bought  a  new  one  when 
in  Richmond  the  other  day,  and  upon  my  saying  that 
I  would  give  my  old  one,  which  I  had  carried  through 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE     187 

the  Mexican  war  and  kept  ever  since,  to  some  soldier, 
the  bookseller  offered  to  give  me  a  dozen  new  prayer 
books  for  the  old  one.  I  accepted,  of  course,  so  good 
an  offer,  and  now  I  have  a  dozen  to  give  away  instead 
of  one."  The  cavalcade  rode  away,  and  the  chaplain 
felt  a  new  inspiration  in  his  work. 

I  called  at  headquarters  at  the  appointed  hour.  The 
General  was  absent  on  some  important  duty,  but  he 
had  (even  amid  his  pressing  cares  and  responsibilities) 
left  the  prayer  books  with  a  member  of  his  staff,  with 
directions  concerning  them.  In  each  one  he  had 
written  in  his  well-known  handwriting,  "Presented 
to  ...  by  R.  E.  Lee."  Had  I  been  disposed  to 
speculate  I  could  easily  have  sold  these  books,  contain 
ing  the  autograph  of  our  great  chieftain,  for  a  large  sum, 
or  have  traded  each  for  a  dozen  others.  I  know  that 
the  soldiers  to  whom  I  gave  them  have  treasured  them 
as  precious  mementos,  or  handed  them  down  as  price 
less  heirlooms.  I  saw  one  of  these  books  several  years 
ago  in  the  hands  of  a  son  whose  father  was  killed  on 
the  retreat  from  Petersburg.  It  was  not  for  sale.  In 
deed,  money  could  not  buy  it. 

I  could  fill  pages  with  quotations  from  General 
Lee's  orders  and  dispatches,  expressing  his  "profound 
gratitude  to  Almighty  God" — his  "thanks  to  God" — 
his  "gratitude  to  Him  who  hath  given  us  the  victory" 
— his  sense  of  "the  blessing  of  Almighty  God" — his 
"grateful  thanks  to  the  only  Giver  of  victory" — and 
his  "ascribing  unto  the  Lord  of  Hosts  the  glory  due 
unto  His  name."  And  I  regret  that  my  space  will  not 


1 88     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

allow  me  to  quote  in  full  his  beautiful  Thanksgiving- 
day,  and  fast-day  orders,  which  breathed  the  spirit  of 
the  humble,  devout  Christian,  and  were  not  mere 
official  proclamations.  But  as  a  specimen  of  them  I 
quote  the  conclusion  of  his  order  for  the  observance 
of  the  2ist  of  August,  1863,  after  the  Gettysburg  cam 
paign,  as  a  day  of  "fasting,  humiliation  and  prayer." 
He  says: 

"Soldiers!  we  have  sinned  against  Almighty  God.  We  have  for 
gotten  His  signal  mercies,  and  have  cultivated  a  revengeful,  haughty, 
and  boastful  spirit.  We  have  not  remembered  that  the  defenders  of 
a  just  cause  should  be  pure  in  His  eyes;  that  our  times  are  in  His 
hands,  and  we  have  relied  too  much  on  our  own  arms  for  the  achieve 
ment  of  our  independence.  God  is  our  only  refuge  and  our  strength. 
Let  us  humble  ourselves  before  Him.  Let  us  confess  our  many  sins 
and  beseech  Him  to  give  us  a  higher  courage,  a  purer  patriotism,  and 
a  more  determined  will;  that  He  will  convert  the  hearts  of  our 
enemies;  that  He  will  hasten  the  time  when  war,  with  its  sorrows  and 
sufferings,  shall  cease,  and  that  He  will  give  us  a  name  and  place 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

"R.  E.  LEE,  General" 

He  was  emphatically  a  man  of  prayer,  was  ac 
customed  to  have  family  prayers,  and  had  his  season 
of  secret  prayer  which  he  allowed  nothing  to  interrupt. 
He  was  a  devout  and  constant  Bible  reader,  and  found 
time  to  read  the  old  book  even  amid  his  most  pressing 
duties.  He  became  president  of  the  Rockbridge  County 
Bible  Society,  and  in  his  letter  of  acceptance  spoke  of 
"the  inestimable  knowledge  of  the  priceless  truths  of 
the  Bible." 

In  a  letter  to  Hon.  A.  W.  Beresford  Hope,  acknowl 
edging  the  receipt  of  a  Bible  from  friends  in  England, 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE     189 

he  speaks  of  it  as  "a  book  in  comparison  with  which 
all  others  in  my  eyes  are  of  minor  importance,  and 
which  in  all  my  perplexities  and  distresses  has  never 
failed  to  give  me  light  and  strength."  In  a  letter  to 
Col.  F.  R.  Farrar,  who  presented  a  Bible  to  the  college 
chapel,  he  speaks  of  it  as  "a  book  which  supplies  the 
place  of  all  others,  and  one  that  cannot  be  replaced 
by  any  other." 

As  I  was  watching  all  alone  by  his  body  the  day 
after  his  death  I  picked  up  from  the  table  a  well-used 
pocket  Bible,  on  the  fly-leaf  of  which  was  written  in 
his  well-known  and  characteristic  chirography,  "R.  E. 
Lee,  Lieutenant  Colonel,  U.  S.  A."  As  I  turned  its 
leaves  and  saw  how  he  had  marked  many  passages, 
especially  those  teaching  the  great  doctrines  of  Salva 
tion  by  Grace,  Justification  by  Faith,  or  those  giving 
the  more  precious  promises  to  the  believer,  I  thought 
of  how,  with  simple  faith,  he  took  this  blessed  book  as 
the  man  of  his  counsel  and  the  light  of  his  pathway; 
how  its  precious  promises  cheered  him  amid  the  afflic 
tions  and  trials  of  his  eventful  life;  and  how  its  glorious 
hopes  illumined  for  him  the  "valley  and  shadow  of 
death." 

He  was  a  very  "son  of  consolation"  to  the  afflicted, 
and  his  letters  of  this  character  were  very  numerous 
and  very  beautiful.  I  can  give  only  several  specimens. 
On  the  death  of  Bishop  Elliott  of  Georgia,  he  wrote  his 
wife  a  touching  eulogy  on  one  "whom  for  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  century  I  have  admired,  loved  and 
venerated,"  and  concluded  by  saying,  "You  have  my 


190     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

deepest  sympathy,  and  my  earnest  prayers  are  offered 
to  Almighty  God  that  He  may  be  graciously  pleased 
to  comfort  you  in  your  great  sorrow,  and  bring  you 
in  His  own  good  time  to  rejoice  with  him  whom  in 
His  all-wise  providence  He  has  called  before  you  to 
heaven." 

To  the  widow  of  Gen.  Geo.  W.  Randolph  he  wrote 
on  the  death  of  her  husband: 

"It  is  the  survivors  of  the  sad  event  whom  I  com 
miserate,  and  not  him  whom  a  gracious  God  has  called 
to  Himself;  and  whose  tender  heart  and  domestic 
virtues  make  the  pang  of  parting  the  more  bitter  to 
those  who  are  left  behind.  .  .  .  For  what  other 
purpose  can  a  righteous  man  be  summoned  into  the 
presence  of  a  merciful  God  than  to  receive  his  reward? 
However,  then,  we  lament  we  ought  not  to  deplore 
him,  or  wish  him  back  from  his  peaceful,  happy  home. 
.  .  .  Mrs.  Lee  and  my  daughters,  while  they  join 
in  unfeigning  sorrow  for  your  bereavement,  unite 
with  me  in  sincere  regards,  and  fervent  prayers  to 
Him  who  can  alone  afford  relief,  for  His  gracious  sup 
port,  and  continued  protection  to  you.  May  his 
abundant  mercies  be  showered  upon  you,  and  may 
His  almighty  arm  guide  and  uphold  you." 

He  wrote  Rev.  Dr.  Moses  D.  Hoge,  of  Richmond, 
Va.,  the  great  Presbyterian  preacher,  after  speaking 
of  matters  connected  with  the  Virginia  Bible  Society, 
the  following  concerning  the  death  of  his  wife: 

"And  now,  my  dear  sir,  though  perhaps  inappropriate  to  the 
occasion,  you  must  allow  me  to  refer  to  a  subject  which  has  caused 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE     191 

me  great  distress  and  concerning  which  I  have  desired  to  write  ever 
since  its  occurrence;  but  to  tell  the  truth  I  have  not  had  the  heart 
to  do  so.  I  knew  how  powerless  I  was  to  give  any  relief  and  how 
utterly  inadequate  was  any  language  that  I  could  use  even  to  miti 
gate  your  suffering.  I  could,  therefore,  only  offer  up  my  silent 
prayers,  to  Him  who  alone  can  heal  your  bleeding  heart  that  in 
His  infinite  mercy  He  will  be  ever  present  with  you;  to  dry  your 
tears  and  staunch  your  wounds;  to  sustain  you  by  His  grace  and 
support  you  by  His  strength.  I  hope  you  felt  assured  that  in  this 
heavy  calamity,  you  and  your  children  had  the  heartfelt  sympathy 
of  Mrs.  Lee  and  myself,  and  that  you  were  daily  remembered  in  our 
prayers. 

"With  best  wishes  and  sincere  affection,  I  am  very  truly  yours, 

"R.  E.  LEE." 


General  Lee  did  not  believe  in  forcing  the  students 
to  attend  chapel,  but  sought  to  influence  them  to  do 
so,  and  I  have  known  no  other  college  where  the  simple 
exercises — singing,  reading  the  Scriptures,  and  prayer — 
seemed  to  be  so  warmly  appreciated  or  so  thoroughly 
enjoyed. 

At  the  faculty  meeting  one  day  a  member  of  the 
faculty,  who  rarely  attended  himself,  made  an  elo 
quent  speech  on  the  importance  of  inducing  the  stu 
dents  to  attend  chapel,  and  when  he  closed  General 
Lee  quietly  remarked,  "The  best  way  that  I  know  of 
to  induce  students  to  attend  is  to  set  them  the  example 
by  always  attending  ourselves." 

Accordingly,  his  own  seat,  near  the  front,  was  always 
rilled.  I  never  knew  a  college  president  to  exert  him 
self  more  actively  for  the  religious  good  of  the  students 
than  did  General  Lee.  I  give  herewith  one  of  the 
letters  he  was  accustomed  to  address  to  the  pastors  of 
Lexington,  asking  their  co-operation: 


192     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

Washington  College, 
Lexington,  Virginia,  nth  September,  1869. 

Rev.  and  Dear  Sirs: — Desirous  of  making  the  religious  exercises 
of  the  College  advantageous  to  the  students,  and  wishing  to  use  all 
means  to  inculcate  among  them  the  principles  of  true  religion,  the 
Faculty  tender  to  you  their  cordial  thanks  for  your  past  services, 
and  request  you  to  perform  in  rotation  the  customary  daily  exer 
cises  at  the  College  Chapel.  The  hour  fixed  for  these  services  is 
forty-five  minutes  past  seven  o'clock  every  morning,  except  Sunday, 
during  the  session,  save  the  three  winter  months,  December,  January 
and  February,  when  the  hour  for  prayer  will  be  forty-five  minutes 
past  eight.  The  hours  for  lectures  are  fixed  at  eight  and  nine  o'clock 
respectively  during  these  periods.  On  Sundays  the  hour  for  prayer 
during  the  whole  session  is  fixed  at  nine  o'clock. 

The  Faculty  also  request  that  you  will  extend  to  the  students  a 
general  invitation  to  attend  the  churches  of  their  choice  regularly  on 
Sundays,  and  other  days,  and  invite  them  to  join  the  Bible  classes 
established  in  each;  that  you  will,  as  may  be  convenient  and  neces 
sary,  visit  them  in  sickness  and  in  health;  and  that  you  will  in  every 
proper  manner  urge  upon  them  the  great  importance  of  the  Christain 
religion. 

The  Faculty  further  ask  that  you  will  arrange  among  yourselves, 
as  may  be  convenient,  the  periods  of  the  session  during  which  each 
will  perform  the  Chapel  services,  and  that  during  those  periods  the 
officiating  minister  will  consider  himself  Chaplain  of  the  College  for 
the  purpose  of  conducting  religious  worship,  prayers,  etc. 

The  present  session  will  open  on  the  i6th,  inst.  and  close  on  the 
25th  June,  1870. 

I  am,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  E.  LEE. 

To  the  Ministers  of  the  Baptist,  Episcopal,  Methodist  and  Presbyte 
rian  Churches  of  Lexington,  Fa. 

I  prize  beyond  price  the  following  autograph  letter: 

Washington  College, 
Lexington,  Virginia,  4th  March,  1868. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  enclose  fifty  dollars  of  the  fund  contributed  by 
the  Faculty  and  students  for  the  religious  exercises  of  the  College, 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE     193 

not  in  compensation  for  your  voluntary  services,  but  in  grateful 
testimony  of  them. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

R.  E.  LEE. 
Rev.  J.  Wm.  Jones. 

He  wrote  similar  letters  to  the  other  pastors  of  the 
town,  and  frequently  talked  with  us  about  the  religious 
interest  of  the  students.  He  was  accustomed  to  make 
lists  of  the  denominational  preferences  of  the  students, 
giving  each  pastor  a  list  of  the  members  of  his  church, 
and  of  the  men  whose  parents  belonged  to  his  church, 
and  would  ask  him  afterwards  if  he  had  visited  them, 
and  if  they  attended  his  Bible  class  and  his  church,  and 
thus  he  would  seek  to  promote  the  interests  of  each 
student. 

He  said  to  Rev.  Dr.  W.  S.  White  soon  after  coming 
to  Lexington:  "I  shall  be  disappointed,  sir,  I  shall 
fail  in  the  leading  object  that  brought  me  here,  unless 
these  young  men  become  real  Christians,  and  I  wish 
you  and  others  of  your  sacred  calling  to  do  all  in  your 
power  to  accomplish  this." 

He  said  to  Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  one  of  the  trustees  of 
the  college,  "I  dread  the  thought  of  any  student  going 
away  from  the  college  without  becoming  a  sincere 
Christian." 

At  the  "Concert  of  Prayer  for  Colleges"  in  1869  I 
made  an  address  in  which  I  urged  that  the  great  need 
of  our  colleges  was  a  genuine,  all-pervasive  revival, 
which  could  only  come  from  above  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  General 
Lee  came  to  me,  and  said  with  more  than  his  usual 


194     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

warmth,  "I  wish,  sir,  to  thank  you  for  your  address; 
it  was  just  what  we  needed.  Our  great  want  is  a  re 
vival  that  shall  bring  these  young  men  to  Christ." 

During  the  great  revival  in  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute  in  1869,  when  there  were  over  one  hundred 
professions  of  faith  in  Christ,  he  said  to  me  with  deep 
emotion,  "That  is  the  best  news  I  have  heard  since 
I  have  been  in  Lexington.  Would  that  we  could  have 
such  a  revival  in  our  college,  and  in  all  of  the  colleges." 

He  said  to  Rev.  Dr.  Kirkpatrick,  the  able  and  honored 
professor  of  moral  philosophy  in  the  college,  when 
they  were  conversing  about  the  religious  interests  of 
the  students,  his  voice  choking  with  emotion  and  his 
eyes  overflowing  with  tears,  "Oh!  Doctor,  if  I  could  only 
know  that  all  of  the  young  men  in  the  college  were  good 
Christians,  I  should  have  nothing  more  to  desire." 

He  sent  for  me  one  day  to  consult  about  organizing 
a  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  college,  and  after  we  had  organized 
it  he  took  the  liveliest  interest  in  its  success,  and  con 
tributed  to  it  every  year  $50  from  his  own  scant  re 
sources.  With  the  first  money  that  he  raised  after  he 
went  to  the  college  he  built  a  substantial  and  beautiful 
chapel,  as,  in  his  judgment,  the  most  important  build 
ing  needed  (more  important  than  a  president's  house, 
he  insisted),  and  it  seems  a  fortunate  providence  that 
he  lies  beneath  that  chapel,  which  he  builded  almost 
with  his  own  hands,  for  he  almost  saw  every  block  of 
granite  placed  in  position,  every  brick  laid,  and  every 
nail  driven. 

General   Lee   was    an    Episcopalian,    and   sincerely 


i.  £ 


EXTERIOR  VIEW  OF  THE  LEE  MEMORIAL  CHAPEL 

IMIFICR  Vnw  CF  IFF  LFE  MIKCRIAL  CHAPEL,  SHOWING  THE  RECUMBENT 

STATUE 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CHARACTER  OF  ROBERT  E.  LEE      195 

attached  to  the  church  of  his  choice,  but  his  large  heart 
took  in  Christians  of  every  name,  and  not  a  few  will 
cordially  indorse  the  remarks  made  by  the  venerable 
Dr.  W.  S.  White, — Stonewall  Jackson's  old  pastor, — 
who  said  with  deep  feeling  during  the  memorial  serv 
ices,  "He  belonged  to  one  branch  of  the  church,  and  I 
to  another.  Yet  in  my  intercourse  with  him — an 
intercourse  rendered  far  more  frequent  and  intimate 
by  the  tender  sympathy  he  felt  in  my  ill  health — the 
thought  never  occurred  to  me  that  we  belonged  to 
different  churches.  His  love  for  the  truth,  and  for  all 
that  is  good  and  useful,  was  such  as  to  render  his 
brotherly  kindness  and  charity  as  boundless  as  were 
the  wants  and  sorrows  of  the  race." 

If  I  have  ever  come  in  contact  with  a  sincere,  devout 
Christian — one  who,  seeing  himself  to  be  a  sinner, 
trusted  alone  in  the  merits  of  Christ — who  humbly 
tried  to  walk  the  path  of  duty,  "looking  unto  Jesus, 
the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,"  and  whose  piety 
was  constantly  exemplified  in  his  daily  life,  that  man 
was  the  world's  great  soldier,  and  model  man,  Robert 
Edward  Lee. 

His  illness  was  of  such  a  character  that  he  left  no 
"last  words,"  but  none  were  needed — his  whole  life 
was  "a  living  epistle"  known  and  read  of  men,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  laid  aside  his  cross  and 
went  to  wear  his  crown — 

"That  crown  with  peerless  glories  bright, 

Which  shall  new  luster  boast 
When  victors'  wreathes  and  monarchs'  gems 

Shall  blend  in  common  dust!" 


TRIBUTE  TO  GENERAL  LEE  AS  A  MAN 

By  MR.  WM.  A.  ANDERSON,    Rector  of  Washington    and    Lee 

University 

Extract  from  remarks  made  at  a  banquet  at  Washington  and  Lee  Uni 
versity  upon  the  Centennial  of  the  birth  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  January  19th, 
1907. 

WE  have  presented  to  us  here  to-day  a  striking 
and  most  gratifying  evidence  of  the  restora 
tion  of  good  feeling  between  the  sections  in 
the  pilgrimage  to  this  Mecca  of  the  South  of  a  dis 
tinguished  son  of  Massachusetts  who  worthily  bears  a 
name  honored  and  illustrious  in   the  history  of  our 
country,   through  five    generations,   to  lay  upon   the 
tomb  of  Lee  the  tribute  of  his  just  praise  and  admira 
tion.* 

*  Reference  is  here  made  to  the  visit  of  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams  and  his 
address  at  the  centennial  celebration  of  General  Lee's  birth,  which  celebra 
tion  was  held  in  the  chapel  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  January  19, 
1907.  In  after  years  Mr.  Adams  wrote:  "  The  Lee  Centennial  is  my  one 
effort  .  .  .  which  I  now  regard  as  having  been  somewhat  better  than  a  mere 
waste  of  time  and  force.  Indeed,  from  the  literary  point  of  view,  I  should 
put  it  in  the  forefront  of  anything  I  may  have  done."  It  has  "since  been 
for  me  one  of  the  pleasantest  things  in  life  to  look  back  on.  .  .  .  This 
occasion  was  in  every  way  a  success  and  constituted  a  very  grateful  incident 
in  life — good  and  altogether  pleasant  to  look  back  on.  It  was  not  marred,  as 
1 1  f afterwards  realized,  by  a  single  untoward  incident.  .  .  .  What  I 
offered  was  received  with  a  warmth  of  applause  which  I  have  never  else 
where  or  on  any  other  occasion  had  equalled.  Most  of  all,  I  gratified  a  large 
number  of  most  excellent  people.  Altogether  pleasant  at  the  time,  it  was  in 


GENERAL  LEE  AS  A  MAN  197 

Those  who  were  once  his  enemies  in  war,  and  their 
descendants,  have  come  to  recognize  the  greatness  and 
goodness  of  him  who  was  the  very  incarnation  of  the 
Confederate  cause,  and  whom  the  educated  civilized 
world  is  beginning  to  regard  as  the  greatest  man  of 
the  century  which  gave  him  to  mankind. 

While  they  begin  to  discern  the  beauty,  the  sym 
metry,  and  the  majestic  proportions  of  his  character, 
they  can  never  see  or  know  him  as  the  Southern  people 
saw  and  knew  him,  in  all  the  grace,  and  manliness,  and 
glory  of  his  perfect  manhood;  for  to  us  he  was  what  a 
true  and  loving  father  is  to  his  children,  guide,  coun 
selor,  benefactor,  and  devoted  friend. 

And  it  is  this  which  measurably  explains  what  is, 
as  well  the  most  marked  feature  of  his  career  as  one 
of  the  strongest  proofs  of  his  true  greatness,  namely, 
that  he  was  and  continues  to  be  the  most  beloved  man 
among  the  masses  of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived 
and  whom  he  served,  that  this  land  has  ever  known. 

Not  only  his  soldiers,  but  the  people  of  the  South 
loved  him  and  still  love  him  with  a  devotion  which  is 

retrospect  an  occasion  yet  more  pleasant."     See  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
1835-1915,  an  Autobiography,  206-208. 

In  June,  1916,  there  was  placed  on  the  wall  of  the  Lee  Memorial  Chapel 
a  bronze  tablet  which  bears  the  following  legend: 

"Charles  Francis  Adams 
Presented  by  Southern  Men 

In    Appreciation    of 

His  Friendship  for  the  South 

And  His  Noble  Tribute  to 

Robert  Edward  Lee." 

Above  the  inscription  is  a  profile  of  Mr.  Adams  in  bas  relief. — Editor 


198     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

very  nearly  akin  to  adoration.  Thousands  of  his 
soldiers  would  have  esteemed  it  a  privilege  to  die  for 
him.  The  world  would  understand  this,  if  the  world 
could  have  seen  and  known  him  as  we  saw  and  knew 
him. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of  a  nobler  presence 
or  a  more  attractive  personality  than  his!  A  form  "of 
noblest  mold"  crowned  by  a  countenance  perfect  in 
its  calm  benignity,  and  manly  beauty.  Large  lustrous 
dark  brown  eyes,  kindly  eyes — honest,  earnest  eyes — 
which  you  saw  at  once  were  the  windows  of  a  great 
soul.  Eyes  that  gleamed  with  a  high  unfaltering  pur 
pose,  and  a  dauntless  courage,  and  could  serenely  look 
impending  disaster  and  death  in  the  face;  and  anon 
would  beam  with  a  loving  sympathy  and  a  tenderness 
which  were  almost  divine.  A  bearing,  simple,  graceful, 
and  natural,  in  which  there  was  modesty  without 
diffidence,  and  supreme  dignity  without  self-assertion. 

It  was  this  actual  personal  Lee  whom  his  soldiers, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  the  women  and  children 
of  the  Southern  States  knew  and  loved  as  no  leader  of 
men,  certainly  none  of  this  continent,  has  ever  been 
loved,  before,  or  since  his  day. 

And  this  was  the  Lee  who  made  his  home  here  in 
Lexington  for  the  last  five  years  of  his  life  on  earth, 
and  whom  it  was  the  priceless  privilege  of  the  men, 
women  and  children  of  this  community  to  see  and 
know,  and  to  honor  and  to  love  as  no  man  has  ever 
been  beloved  by  the  generous  and  devoted  hearts  of  a 
loyal  and  a  grateful  people. 


GENERAL  LEE  AS  A  MAN  199 

This  was  the  Lee  who,  while  the  people  whom  he  had 
led  to  victory  after  victory,  had  been  compelled,  by 
exhaustion,  to  surrender  to  overwhelming  numbers 
and  resources,  sitting  amid  the  ashes  of  their  homes 
and  their  hopes,  still  benumbed  by  the  shock  of  their 
great  disaster,  were  slowly  gathering  up  their  energies 
to  wrest  a  livelihood  for  their  children  from  a  wasted 
and  desolate  land,  bade  them  to  trust  in  God,  take 
hope,  and  be  of  good  cheer.  It  was  even  then  that 
with  a  prescience  which  stamps  him  not  only  as  a 
statesman,  but  as  a  prophet,  he  saw  clearly  that  im 
measurably  the  most  important  interest  of  the  South 
was  the  education  of  her  children;  that  through  their 
right  training  and  education  alone  the  people  of  these 
states  could  regain  their  preeminence  and  attain  to  a 
degree  of  surpassing  prosperity,  power  and  usefulness. 

He  determined  to  devote,  and  he  did  devote,  what 
was  left  to  him  of  strength  and  energy  and  enthusiasm 
for  the  remaining  years  of  his  life,  to  this  great  cause— 
the  cause  of  education,  and  primarily  to  the  education 
of  the  young  men  of  the  Southern  States. 

This  was  the  Lee  who  then  accepted  the  presidency 
of  Washington  College. 

The  institution  had  then  already  been  enriched  by 
patriotic  associations  and  memories,  and  appropriately 
bore  the  name  of  the  Father  of  his  Country,  till  then 
its  greatest  benefactor;  but  its  walls  had  been  dis 
mantled,  its  apparatus  and  educational  appliances 
destroyed,  and  its  small  endowment  diminished  in 
value,  so  that  the  work  of  its  regeneration  was  almost 


200    GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

as  difficult  as  the  building  up  of  a  new  school  would 
have  been. 

Here  he  came  on  that  lovely  autumn  day  of  1865, 
and  from  that  moment  till  now,  and  for  all  coming 
time,  if  the  custodians  of  this  university  are  faithful 
to  their  high  trust,  the  influence  of  his  personality,  of 
his  character,  and  his  name,  is,  and  will  be,  a  part  of 
the  very  atmosphere  and  life  and  being  of  this  uni 
versity,  as  it  is  now,  and  must  ever  be,  its  most  precious 
possession. 

His  life  and  the  lessons  of  his  example  served  while 
he  was  here,  and  will  serve  for  all  time,  to  inculcate  in 
the  minds  of  the  ingenuous  youth  of  the  country  who, 
if  we  are  true  to  his  memory  and  his  teachings,  shall  in 
increasing  numbers  gather  here  as  the  years  and  the 
centuries  go  by,  not  only  the  lessons  of  devotion  to 
civic  duty,  of  duty  to  man, — but  the  higher  lessons  of 
piety,  and  religion,  of  duty  to  God;  for  of  all  the  Godly 
and  Christian  men  who  have  been  connected  with  this 
venerable  institution  as  academy,  college  and  uni 
versity,  none  were  more  Godly,  none  more  devout, 
none  more  sincere,  consistent  and  humble  followers  of 
the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus,  than  the  modest  Christian 
gentleman  who  lies  buried  over  yonder  by  the  chapel 
for  the  worship  of  the  living  God,  which  he  caused  to 
be  erected  there. 

Well  may  we  cherish  his  memory. 

Well  may  we  again  and  again  recall  the  lessons  of 
his  life  and  repeat  those  lessons  to  our  children  and 
our  children's  children. 


GENERAL  LEE  AS  A  MAN  201 

Well  may  we  remember  the  measureless  debt  of 
gratitude  which  the  people  of  this  whole  land,  but 
particularly  the  people  of  Virginia  and  the  Confederate 
South,  and  most  of  all  the  alumni,  students,  faculty, 
and  trustees  of  this  university  owe  to  him  who  was 
their  greatest  benefactor. 

I  have  spoken  of  Lee  as  a  prophet.  His  was  the 
optimism  which  came  not  merely  from  hope,  but 
was  founded  in  faith, — faith  in  God,  faith  in  his 
countrymen,  and  faith  in  the  free  institutions  of  his 
country. 

In  perhaps  the  darkest  hours  which  followed  the 
surrender  of  the  armies  of  the  Confederacy,  when  the 
vials  of  sectional  wrath  were  being  poured  out  upon  a 
helpless  and  almost  defenseless  people,  and  dark  and 
darkening  clouds  seemed  to  cover  the  political  and 
commercial  horizon  of  the  lately  Confederated  States, 
General  Lee  wrote  as  follows: 

"Although  the  future  is  still  dark,  and  the  prospects 
gloomy,  I  am  confident  that  if  we  all  unite  in  doing 
our  duty,  and  earnestly  work  to  extract  what  good 
we  can  out  of  the  evil  that  now  hovers  over  our  dear 
land,  the  time  is  not  distant  when  the  angry  clouds 
will  be  lifted  from  our  horizon,  and  the  sun  in  his 
pristine  brightness  shine  forth  again." 

And  here  to-day,  and  for  all  coming  time,  we  who 
are  Virginians  can  have  no  nobler  motto  and  no  more 
inspiring  call  to  patriotic  duty  than  the  eloquent  reply 
which  our  immortal  commander  made  to  a  despairing 
young  Virginian  who  had  inquired  of  him,  "what  the 


202     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

future  had  in  store  for  us  poor  Virginians,"  an  answer 
which  deserves  to  live  forever  in  the  hearts  of  all  Vir 
ginians: 

"You  can  work  for  Virginia,  to  build  her  up  again. 
You  can  teach  your  children  to  love  and  cherish  her!" 


TRIBUTE  TO  GENERAL  LEE  AS  AN  EDUCATOR 

By  DR.  HENRY  Louis  SMITH, 
President  of  Washington  and  Lee  University. 

Extract  from  remarks  made  in  opening  the  exercises  of  the  Founders' 
Day  celebration,  January  iQth,  1921. 

A 'AID  the  wreck  and  ruin  of  1865  the  immortal 
leader  of  the  Confederate  armies,  a  soldier 
from  his  youth,  finding  himself  without  a 
professions,  ought  to  re-invest  his  life  for  the  benefit  of 
his  stricken  land. 

Offers  of  ease,  wealth,  leisure,  and  high  position 
poured  in  on  him  from  every  side.  The  headship  of 
the  Egyptian  armies,  with  a  rank  next  to  that  of  the 
Khedive  himself,  a  princely  estate  in  England,  with 
all  its  revenues,  a  fabulous  salary  as  the  nominal  head 
of  a  great  Southern  corporation,  all  these,  with  the 
rest  and  freedom  from  care  which  his  worn  soul  and 
body  craved,  were  laid  aside  at  the  call  of  duty. 

Across  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains  in  a  borrowed 
coat,  riding  a  borrowed  horse,  his  traveling  expenses 
met  by  borrowed  funds,  the  representative  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  George  Washington's  bankrupt 
and  war-wrecked  college  had  come  to  offer  to  him  the 
headship  of  his  great  kinsman's  institution,  promising 
him  a  salary  of  $1,500  per  annum,  but  admitting  that 
the  institution  was  already  $4,000  in  debt  for  unpaid 


204     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

salaries  and  must  trust  to  the  General's  success  as  an 
administrator  for  its  future  solvency. 

At  the  opening  of  the  war,  with  sublime  self-sacri 
fice,  General  Lee  had  refused  the  headship  of  the 
Union  Armies,  and  with  full  knowledge  and  foresight 
of  the  inevitable  future,  had  elected  to  tread  the  fiery 
path  to  ruin  with  his  native  State  rather  than  prove 
false  to  his  ideals  of  patriotism  and  duty. 

His  choice  at  its  close  reached  even  higher  levels  of 
heroic  self-sacrifice,  and  I  know  of  no  more  pathetic 
and  sublime  picture  in  American  history  than  General 
Lee,  on  his  warhorse  Traveller,  making  his  way  alone 
across  the  Blue  Ridge  mountains,  and  riding  quietly 
into  the  little  village  of  Lexington  to  take  up  the 
burdens  of  a  new  profession  and  rebuild  in  a  time  of 
universal  bankruptcy  the  fortunes  of  a  disorganized 
and  impoverished  institution. 

His  immortal  kinsman,  being  rich,  had  endowed  the 
college  with  his  money;  General  Lee,  like  his  divine 
Exemplar,  being  poor  and  without  a  place  to  lay  his 
head,  followed  His  divine  example  and  gave  himself— 
thus  enriching  the  institution  for  all  time. 

With  tireless  devotion,  he  threw  himself  into  the 
work  of  education  and  administration.  With  an  edu 
cational  originality  many  years  in  advance  of  his  time, 
he  added  to  the  old-fashioned  classical  curriculum  of 
Washington  College,  schools  of  engineering,  journalism, 
commerce,  and  law;  gathered  students,  teachers, 
buildings,  and  endowments  on  Washington's  founda 
tion;  fixed  for  all  time  the  institution's  ideals  of  char- 


GENERAL  LEE  AS  AN  EDUCATOR  205 

acter  and  chivalry;  and  then,  worn  out  by  his  cease 
less  and  indefatigable  labors,  fell  at  his  post  and 
bequeathed  to  it  his  ever-widening  influence,  his 
sacred  dust,  and  his  incomparable  name. 

Thus  the  five  years'  work  of  Lee  the  Educator 
fittingly  crowns  and  supplements  the  five  stormy  years 
of  Lee  the  Soldier,  and  undoubtedly,  when  the  long 
roll  is  finally  called  and  his  contribution  to  the  up 
lift  and  betterment  of  the  human  race  finally  assessed 
and  determined,  his  self-sacrificing  labors  at  Lexington 
will  outshine  and  outweigh  all  the  more  transient  glories 
of  his  amazing  military  career. 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE 

By  COL.  WILLIAM  PRESTON  JOHNSTON 

This  contribution  by  a  member  of  General  Lee's  faculty  was  prepared  for 
a  Memorial  Volume  which  Washington  and  Lee  University  contemplated 
publishing  shortly  after  the  death  of  General  Lee.  When  this  plan  was 
abandoned  the  manuscript  was  turned  over  to  Dr.  J.  William  Jones  and 
published  in  his  Personal  Reminiscences  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  446-459.  It  is 
here  reproduced  because  Dr.  Jones'  book  in  which  it  appeared  has  long 
been  out  of  print. 

DEATH  OF  GENERAL  LEE 

THE  death  of  General  Lee  was  not  due  to  any 
sudden  cause,  but  was  the  result  of  agencies 
dating  as  far  back  as  1863.  In  the  trying 
campaign  of  that  year,  he  contracted  a  severe  sore- 
throat,  that  resulted  in  rheumatic  inflammation  of 
the  sac  inclosing  the  heart.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
after  this  sickness  his  health  was  always  more  or  less 
impaired;  and,  although  he  complained  little,  yet 
rapid  exercise  on  foot  or  on  horseback  produced  pain 
and  difficulty  of  breathing.  In  October,  1869,  he  was 
again  attacked  by  inflammation  of  the  heart-sac,  ac 
companied  by  muscular  rheumatism  of  the  back,  right 
side,  and  arms.  The  action  of  the  heart  was  weakened 
by  this  attack;  the  flush  upon  the  face  was  deepened, 
the  rheumatism  increased,  and  he  was  troubled  with 
weariness  and  depression. 

In  March,  1870,  General  Lee,  yielding  to  the  so- 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE  207 

licitations  of  friends  and  medical  advisers,  made  a 
six  weeks'  visit  to  Georgia  and  Florida.  He  returned 
greatly  benefited  by  the  influence  of  the  genial  climate, 
the  society  of  friends  of  those  States,  and  the  dem 
onstrations  of  respect  and  affection  of  the  people  of 
the  South;  his  physical  condition,  however,  was  not 
greatly  improved.  During  this  winter  and  spring  he 
had  said  to  his  son,  General  Custis  Lee,  that  his  attack 
was  mortal;  and  had  virtually  expressed  the  same 
belief  to  other  trusted  friends.  And  now,  with  that 
delicacy  that  pervaded  all  his  actions,  he  seriously 
considered  the  question  of  resigning  the  presidency  of 
Washington  College,  "fearful  that  he  might  not  be 
equal  to  his  duties."  After  listening,  however,  to  the 
affectionate  remonstrances  of  the  faculty  and  board 
of  trustees,  who  well  knew  the  value  of  his  wisdom  in 
the  supervision  of  the  college,  and  the  power  of  his 
mere  presence  and  example  upon  the  students,  he 
resumed  his  labors  with  the  resolution  to  remain  at 
his  post  and  carry  forward  the  great  work  he  had  so 
auspiciously  begun. 

During  the  summer  he  spent  some  weeks  at  the 
Hot  Springs  of  Virginia,  using  the  baths,  and  came 
home  seemingly  better  in  health  and  spirits.  He 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  opening  collegiate  year 
in  September  with  that  quiet  zeal  and  noiseless  energy 
that  marked  all  his  actions,  and  an  unusual  elation 
was  felt  by  those  about  him  at  the  increased  prospect 
that  long  years  of  usefulness  and  honor  would  yet  be 
added  to  his  glorious  life. 


208     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

Wednesday,  the  28th  of  September,  1870,  found 
General  Lee  at  the  post  of  duty.  In  the  morning  he 
was  fully  occupied  with  the  correspondence  and  other 
tasks  incident  to  his  office  of  President  of  Washington 
College,  and  he  declined  offers  of  assistance  from 
members  of  the  faculty,  of  whose  services  he  some 
times  availed  himself.  After  dinner,  at  four  o'clock, 
he  attended  a  vestry-meeting  of  Grace  (Episcopal) 
Church.  The  afternoon  was  chilly  and  wet,  and  a 
steady  rain  had  set  in,  which  did  not  cease  until  it 
resulted  in  a  great  flood,  the  most  memorable  and 
destructive  in  this  region  for  a  hundred  years.  The 
church  was  rather  cold  and  damp,  and  General  Lee, 
during  the  meeting,  sat  in  a  pew  with  his  military  cape 
cast  loosely  about  him.  In  a  conversation  that  occu 
pied  the  brief  space  preceding  the  call  to  order,  he  took 
part,  and  told,  with  marked  cheerfulness  of  manner 
and  kindliness  of  tone,  some  pleasant  anecdotes  of 
Bishop  Meade  and  Chief-Justice  Marshall.  The 
meeting  was  protracted  until  after  seven  o'clock,  by  a 
discussion  touching  the  rebuilding  of  the  church  edifice 
and  the  increase  of  the  rector's  salary.  General  Lee 
acted  as  chairman,  and,  after  hearing  all  that  was 
said,  gave  his  own  opinion,  as  was  his  wont,  briefly  and 
without  argument.  He  closed  the  meeting  with  a 
characteristic  act.  The  amount  required  for  the  min 
ister's  salary  still  lacked  a  sum  much  greater  than 
General  Lee's  proportion  of  the  subscription,  in  view 
of  his  frequent  and  generous  contributions  to  the 
church  and  other  charities;  but  just  before  the  adjourn- 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE          209 

ment,  when  the  treasurer  announced  the  amount  of 
the  deficit  still  remaining,  General  Lee  said,  in  a  low 
tone:  "I  will  give  that  sum."  He  seemed  tired  toward 
the  close  of  the  meeting,  and,  as  was  afterward  re 
marked,  showed  an  unusual  flush,  but  at  the  time  no 
apprehensions  were  felt. 

General  Lee  returned  to  his  house,  and,  rinding  his 
family  waiting  tea  for  him,  took  his  place  at  the  table, 
standing  to  say  grace.  The  effort  was  vain,  the  lips 
could  not  utter  the  prayer  of  the  heart.  Finding  him 
self  unable  to  speak,  he  took  his  seat  quietly  and  with 
out  agitation.  His  face  seemed  to  some  of  the  anxious 
group  about  him  to  wear  a  look  of  sublime  resignation, 
and  to  evince  a  full  knowledge  that  the  hour  had  come 
when  all  the  cares  and  anxieties  of  his  crowded  life 
were  at  an  end.  His  physicians,  Drs.  H.  T.  Barton 
and  R.  L.  Madison,  arrived  promptly,  applied  the 
usual  remedies,  and  placed  him  upon  the  couch  from 
which  he  was  to  rise  no  more.  To  him  henceforth  the 
things  of  this  world  were  as  nothing,  and  he  bowed  with 
resignation  to  the  command  of  the  Master  he  had  fol 
lowed  so  long  with  reverence. 

The  symptoms  of  his  attack  resembled  concussion 
of  the  brain,  without  the  attendant  swoon.  There 
was  marked  debility,  a  slightly  impaired  consciousness, 
and  a  tendency  to  doze;  but  no  paralysis  of  motion 
or  sensation,  and  no  evidence  of  softening  or  inflam 
mation  of  the  brain.  His  physicians  treated  the  case 
as  one  of  venous  congestion,  and  with  apparently 
favorable  results.  Yet,  despite  these  propitious  au- 


210     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

guries  drawn  from  his  physical  symptoms,  in  view  of 
the  great  mental  strain  he  had  undergone,  the  gravest 
fears  were  felt  that  the  attack  was  mortal.  He  took 
without  objection  the  medicines  and  diet  prescribed, 
and  was  strong  enough  to  turn  in  bed  without  aid,  and 
to  sit  up  to  take  nourishment.  During  the  earlier  days 
of  his  illness,  though  inclined  to  doze,  he  was  easily 
aroused,  was  quite  conscious  and  observant,  evidently 
understood  whatever  was  said  to  him,  and  answered 
questions  briefly  but  intelligently;  he  was,  however, 
averse  to  much  speaking,  generally  using  monosyl 
lables,  as  had  always  been  his  habit  when  sick.  When 
first  attacked,  he  said  to  those  who  were  removing  his 
clothes,  pointing  at  the  same  time  to  his  rheumatic 
shoulder,  "You  hurt  my  arm."  Although  he  seemed 
to  be  gradually  improving  until  October  loth,  he  ap 
parently  knew  from  the  first  that  the  appointed  hour 
had  come  when  he  must  enter  those  dark  gates  that, 
closing,  reopen  no  more  to  earth.  In  the  words  of  his 
physician,  "he  neither  expected  nor  desired  to  re 
cover."  When  General  Custis  Lee  made  some  allusion 
to  his  recovery,  he  shook  his  head  and  pointed  up 
ward.  On  the  Monday  morning  before  his  death, 
Dr.  Madison,  finding  him  looking  better,  tried  to 
cheer  him:  "How  do  you  feel  to-day,  General?"  Gen 
eral  Lee  replied,  slowly  and  distinctly:  "I  feel  better." 
The  doctor  then  said:  "You  must  make  haste  and  get 
well;  Traveller  has  been  standing  so  long  in  the  stable 
that  he  needs  exercise."  The  General  made  no  reply, 
but  slowly  shook  his  head  and  closed  his  eyes.  Several 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE  211 

times  during  his  illness  he  put  aside  his  medicine, 
saying,  "It  is  of  no  use,"  but  yielded  patiently  to  the 
wishes  of  his  physicians  or  children,  as  if  the  slackened 
chords  of  being  still  responded  to  the  touch  of  duty  or 
affection. 

On  October  10,  during  the  afternoon,  his  pulse  be 
came  feeble  and  rapid,  and  his  breathing  hurried, 
with  other  evidences  of  great  exhaustion.  About 
midnight  he  was  seized  with  a  shivering  from  extreme 
debility,  and  Dr.  Barton  felt  obliged  to  announce  the 
danger  to  the  family.  On  October  nth,  he  was  evi 
dently  sinking;  his  respiration  was  hurried,  and  his 
pulse  feeble  and  rapid.  Though  less  observant,  he 
still  recognized  whoever  approached  him,  but  refused 
to  take  anything  unless  presented  by  his  physicians. 
It  now  became  certain  that  the  case  was  hopeless. 
His  decline  was  rapid,  yet  gentle;  and  soon  after  nine 
o'clock,  on  the  morning  of  October  I2th,  he  closed  his 
eyes,  and  his  soul  passed  peacefully  from  earth. 

General  Lee's  physicians  attributed  his  death  in 
great  measure  to  moral  causes.  The  strain  of  his 
campaigns,  the  bitterness  of  defeat  aggravated  by  the 
bad  faith  and  insolence  of  the  victor,  sympathy  with 
the  subsequent  sufferings  of  the  Southern  people,  and 
the  effort  at  calmness  under  these  accumulated  sorrows, 
seemed  the  sufficient  and  real  causes  that  slowly  but 
steadily  undermined  General  Lee's  health  and  led  to 
his  death.  Yet  to  those  who  saw  his  composure  under 
the  greater  and  lesser  trials  of  life,  and  his  justice  and 
forbearance  with  the  most  unjust  and  uncharitable, 


212     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

it  seemed  scarcely  credible  that  his  serene  soul  was 
shaken  by  the  evil  that  raged  around  him. 

General  Lee's  closing  hours  were  consonant  with 
his  noble  and  disciplined  life.  Never  was  more  beauti 
fully  displayed  how  a  long  and  severe  education  of 
mind  and  character  enables  the  soul  to  pass  with  equal 
step  through  this  supreme  ordeal;  never  did  the  habits 
and  qualities  of  a  lifetime,  solemnly  gathered  into  a 
few  last  sad  hours,  more  grandly  maintain  themselves 
amid  the  gloom  and  shadow  of  approaching  death. 
The  reticence,  the  self-contained  composure,  the 
obedience  to  proper  authority,  the  magnanimity,  and 
the  Christian  meekness,  that  marked  all  his  actions, 
still  preserved  their  sway,  in  spite  of  the  inroads  of 
disease,  and  the  creeping  lethargy  that  weighed  down 
his  faculties. 

As  the  old  hero  lay  in  the  darkened  room,  or  with 
the  lamp  and  hearth  fire  casting  shadows  upon  his 
calm,  noble  front,  all  the  massive  grandeur  of  his  form, 
and  face,  and  brow,  remained;  and  death  seemed  to 
lose  its  terrors,  and  to  borrow  a  grace  and  dignity  in 
sublime  keeping  with  the  life  that  was  ebbing  away. 
The  great  mind  sank  to  its  last  repose,  almost  with  the 
equal  poise  of  health.  The  few  broken  utterances  that 
evinced  at  times  a  wandering  intellect  were  spoken 
under  the  influence  of  the  remedies  administered;  but 
as  long  as  consciousness  lasted,  there  was  evidence  that 
all  the  high,  controlling  influences  of  his  whole  life 
still  ruled;  and  even  when  stupor  was  laying  its  cold 
hand  on  the  intellectual  perceptions,  the  moral  nature, 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE          213 

with  its  complete  orb  of  duties  and  affections,  still 
asserted  itself.  A  Southern  poet  has  celebrated  in 
song  those  last  significant  words,  "Strike  the  tent": 
and  a  thousand  voices  were  raised  to  give  meaning  to 
the  uncertain  sound,  when  the  dying  man  said,  with 
emphasis,  "Tell  Hill  he  must  come  up!"  These  sen 
tences  serve  to  show  most  touchingly  through  what 
fields  the  imagination  was  passing;  but  generally  his 
words,  though  few,  were  coherent;  but  for  the  most 
part  indeed  his  silence  was  unbroken. 

This  self-contained  reticence  had  an  awful  grandeur, 
in  solemn  accord  with  a  life  that  needed  no  defense. 
Deeds  which  required  no  justification  must  speak  for 
him.  His  voiceless  lips,  like  the  shut  gates  of  some 
majestic  temple,  were  closed,  not  for  concealment,  but 
because  that  within  was  holy.  Could  the  eye  of  the 
mourning  watcher  have  pierced  the  gloom  that  gathered 
about  the  recesses  of  that  great  soul,  it  would  have 
perceived  a  Presence  there  full  of  an  ineffable  glory. 
Leaning  trustfully  upon  the  all-sustaining  Arm,  the 
man  whose  stature,  measured  by  mortal  standards, 
seemed  so  great,  passed  from  this  world  of  shadows 
to  the  realities  of  the  hereafter. 

FUNERAL 

ON  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  October  I2th,  the 
church-bells  tolled  forth  the  solemn  announcement 
that  General  Lee  was  dead.  A  whisper  had  passed 
from  lip  to  lip  that  he  was  sinking;  and  the  anxious 
hearts  of  the  people  understood  the  signal  of  bereave- 


214     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

ment.  Without  concert  of  action,  labor  was  sus 
pended  in  Lexington;  all  stores,  shops,  and  places  of  busi 
ness  were  closed;  and  the  exercises  at  the  college,  military 
institute,  and  schools,  ceased  without  formal  notice. 
Little  children  wept  as  they  went  to  their  homes;  the 
women  shed  tears  as  if  a  dear  friend  had  gone  from 
among  them;  and  the  rugged  faces  of  men,  inured  to 
hardship  of  war,  blanched  as  the  sorrowful  word  was 
spoken.  The  courtesies  and  little  kindnesses  that  the 
departed  had  strewed  with  gentle  hand  among  all 
classes  of  the  community  came  back;  and  memory 
recalled  his  stately  form,  not  surrounded  with  the 
splendor  of  his  fame,  but  in  the  softer  light  of  a  dear 
neighbor  and  friend  who  had  vanished  from  sight 
forever.  The  sense  of  national  calamity  was  lost  in 
the  tenderer  distress  of  personal  grief.  General  and 
heart- felt  rnourning  followed,  and^the  ordinary  pursuits 
of  business  were  not  resumed  until  the  next  week. 

In  all  the  Southern  States  the  people  felt  that  the 
death  of  General  Lee  was  a  loss  to  every  community 
and  to  each  individual.  By  a  common  impulse  they 
met  in  whatever  bodies  they  were  accustomed  to 
assemble;  and  in  mass-meetings,  corporate  bodies,  and 
voluntary  societies,  passed  resolutions  and  voted  ad 
dresses  of  respect  and  condolence.  The  pulpit,  the 
bar,  the  bench,  the  halls  of  legislation,  municipal  au 
thorities,  benevolent  associations,  and  all  the  organ 
izations  through  which  men  perform  the  functions  of 
society,  spontaneously  offered  tributes  to  the  memory 
of  the  illustrious  dead. 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE  215 

The  chosen  orators  of  the  land  came  forward  to 
eulogize  his  fame.  A  whole  people,  who  at  his  counsel 
had  borne  in  silence  five  years  of  accumulated  suffer 
ings,  gave  way  to  sorrow  at  the  death  of  their  loved 
leader;  but  it  was  a  sorrow  in  which  tenderness  was 
exalted  by  the  dignity  of  the  dead,  and  the  bereaved 
felt  that  they  shared  in  the  heritage  of  an  undying 
name.  It  might  seem  invidious  to  select  from  testi 
monials  so  general  and  so  honorable  any  even  to  serve 
as  illustrations  or  examples  of  the  universal  sorrow; 
but  it  may  be  said  of  all  that  never  was  the  sense  of 
public  calamity  more  completely  chastened  in  its  ex 
pression  by  deep  and  real  feeling. 

The  authorities  of  Washington  College  having 
tendered  to  Mrs.  Lee  the  college  chapel  as  a  burial- 
place  for  General  Lee,  the  offer  was  accepted;  and 
1.30  o'clock  P.  M.  on  the  i4th  of  October  was  the  time 
fixed  on  for  the  removal  of  the  remains  from  the  resi 
dence  of  the  deceased  to  the  chapel,  where  they  were 
to  lie  in  state  until  Saturday,  the  I5th  of  October, 
the  day  appointed  for  the  burial.  At  the  hour  named, 
the  procession  to  convey  the  body  was  formed  under 
the  charge  of  Professor  J.  J.  White  as  chief-marshal, 
aided  by  assistants  appointed  by  the  students.  The 
escort  of  honor  consisted  of  Confederate  soldiers, 
marshaled  by  the  Hon.  J.  K.  Edmondson,  late  colonel 
of  the  Twenty-seventh  Virginia  Regiment.  Following 
the  escort  came  the  hearse,  preceded  by  the  clergy, 
and  attended  by  twelve  pall-bearers,  representing  the 
trustees,  faculty,  and  students  of  Washington  College, 


216     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

the  authorities  of  the  Virginia  Military  Institute,  the 
soldiers  of  the  Confederate  army,  the  citizens  of  Lex 
ington.  Just  in  the  rear  of  the  hearse,  Traveller,  the 
noble  white  war  horse  of  General  Lee,  with  saddle  and 
bridle  covered  with  crape,  was  led  by  two  old  soldiers. 
Then  came  in  order  the  long  procession  composed  of 
the  college  authorities  and  students,  the  corps  of 
cadets  with  their  faculty,  and  the  citizens.  The  body 
was  borne  to  the  college  chapel,  and  laid  in  state  on 
the  dais;  the  procession  passing  slowly  by,  that  each 
one  might  look  upon  the  face  of  the  dead.  The  body, 
attired  in  a  simple  suit  of  black,  lay  in  a  metallic 
coffin,  strewed  by  pious  hands  with  flowers  and  ever 
greens.  The  chapel,  with  the  care  of  the  remains, 
was  then  placed  in  charge  of  the  guard  of  honor,  ap 
pointed  by  the  students  from  their  own  number. 
This  guard  kept  watch  by  the  coffin  until  the  inter 
ment,  and  gave  to  all  who  desired  it  the  opportunity 
of  looking  once  more  upon  the  loved  and  honored  face. 
On  Friday  morning,  October  i4th,  the  college  chapel 
was  filled  at  nine  o'clock  with  a  solemn  congregation 
of  students  and  citizens,  all  of  whom  seemed  deeply 
moved  by  the  simple  exercises.  Rev.  Dr.  Pendleton 
read  from  Psalm  XXXVII,  8-11,  and  28-40,  and  with 
deep  feeling  applied  its  lessons  to  the  audience,  as 
illustrated  in  the  life  and  death  of  General  Lee.  The 
speaker  had  for  forty-five  years  been  intimately  asso 
ciated  with  this  great  and  good  man  as  fellow  student, 
comrade-in-arms,  and  pastor;  and  testified  to  his 
singular  and  consistent  rectitude,  dignity,  and  excel- 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE          217 

lence  under  all  the  circumstances  of  life,  and  to  that 
meekness  in  him  that  under  the  most  trying  adversity 
knew  not  envy,  anger  or  complaint.  "The  law  of 
God  was  in  his  heart,"  therefore  did  "none  of  his  steps 
slide."  "Mark  the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  up 
right,  for  the  end  of  that  man  is  peace."  The  minister 
powerfully  illustrated  the  text  of  his  discourse  in  the 
career  of  this  great  and  good  man,  and  urged  his  hearers 
to  profit  by  the  example  of  this  servant  of  the  Lord. 

The  venerable  Dr.  White,  Stonewall  Jackson's 
pastor,  and  the  Rev.  John  William  Jones,  of  the  Bap 
tist  Church,  who  had  served  as  chaplain  in  the  Con 
federate  army,  and  had  since  been  intimately  connected 
with  General  Lee,  followed  with  brief  but  interesting 
remarks  on  the  Christian  character  of  the  deceased. 

On  the  1 4th  of  October,  General  W.  H.  F.  Lee, 
Captain  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  other  members  of  the 
family,  arrived;  and  on  this  and  the  following  day 
delegations  from  the  Legislature  of  Virginia  and  from 
various  places  in  the  Commonwealth  reached  Lexington 
over  roads  almost  impassable  from  the  ravages  of  the 
recent  great  flood.  The  flag  of  Virginia,  draped  in 
mourning,  hung  at  half-mast  above  the  college,  badges 
of  sorrow  were  everywhere  visible,  and  a  general  gloom 
rested  on  the  hearts  of  old  and  young. 

Saturday,  October  I5th,  was  the  day  appointed  for 
the  funeral.  A  cloudless  sky  and  a  pure,  bracing  air 
made  a  suitable  close  to  the  splendid  and  unsullied 
career  of  the  man  who  was  now  to  be  consigned  to  the 
tomb.  It  was  desired  to  avoid  all  mere  pageantry  and 


21 8     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

display,  and  that  all  the  honors  paid  should  accord 
with  the  simple  dignity  of  the  dead.  This  spirit  pre 
vailed  in  all  the  proceedings,  and  gave  character  to 
the  ceremonies  of  the  day. 

It  was  thought  proper  that  those  who  had  followed 
his  flag  should  lay  the  honored  body  of  their  chief  in 
its  last  resting  place,  and  the  escort  of  honor  of  Con 
federate  soldiers,  much  augmented  in  numbers,  and 
commanded  by  General  B.  T.  Johnson,  assisted  by 
Colonel  Edmondson,  Colonel  Maury,  and  Major 
Dorm  an,  was  assigned  the  post  of  honor  in  the  pro 
cession. 

The  following  account  of  the  ceremonies  is  taken 
from  a  newspaper  letter,  written  at  the  time,  by  Rev. 
J.  Wm.  Jones: 

"The  order  of  the  procession  was  as  follows: 

Music. 
Escort  of  Honor,  consisting  of  Officers  and  Soldiers  of  the 

Confederate  Army. 
Chaplain  and  other  Clergy. 
Hearse  and  Pall-Bearers. 
General  Lee's  Horse. 
The  Attending  Physicians. 
Trustees  and  Faculty  of  Washington  College. 

Dignitaries  of  the  State  of  Virginia. 
Visitors  and  Faculty  of  Virginia  Military  Institute. 
Other  Representative  Bodies  and  Distinguished  Visitors. 
Alumni  of  Washington  College. 

Citizens. 

Cadets  Virginia  Military  Institute. 
Students  Washington  College  as  Guard  of  Honor." 

"At  ten  o'clock  precisely  the  procession  was  formed 
on  the  college  grounds  in  front  of  the  president's  house, 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE  219 

and  moved  down  Washington  Street,  up  Jefferson 
Street  to  the  Franklin  Hall,  thence  to  Main  Street, 
where  it  was  joined,  in  front  of  the  hotel,  by  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  State  of  Virginia  and  other  repre 
sentative  bodies  in  their  order,  and  by  the  organized 
body  of  the  citizens  in  front  of  the  courthouse. 

"The  procession  then  moved  by  the  street  to  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  where  it  was  joined  by 
the  visitors,  faculty,  and  cadets  of  the  institute,  in 
their  respective  places.  The  procession  was  closed  by 
the  students  of  Washington  College  as  a  guard  of 
honor,  and  then  moved  up  through  the  institute  and 
college  grounds  to  the  chapel. 

"The  procession  was  halted  in  front  of  the  chapel, 
when  the  cadets  of  the  institute  and  the  students  of 
Washington  College  were  marched  through  the  college 
chapel  past  the  remains,  and  were  afterward  drawn 
up  in  two  bodies  on  the  south  side  of  the  chapel.  The 
remainder  of  the  procession  then  proceeded  into  the 
chapel  and  were  seated  under  the  direction  of  the 
marshals.  The  gallery  and  side  blocks  were  reserved 
for  ladies. 

"As  the  procession  moved  off,  to  a  solemn  dirge  by 
the  institute  band,  the  bells  of  the  town  began  to  toll, 
and  the  institute  battery  fired  minute-guns,  which 
were  kept  up  during  the  whole  exercises. 

"  In  front  of  the  National  Hotel  the  procession  was 
joined  by  the  committee  of  the  Legislature,  consisting 
of  Colonel  W.  H.  Taylor,  Colonel  E.  Pendleton,  W.  L. 
Riddick,  Major  Kelly,  Geo.  Walker,  Z.  Turner,  H. 


220     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

Bowen,  T.  O.  Jackson,  and  Marshall  Hanger;  the 
delegation  from  the  city  of  Staunton,  headed  by 
Colonel  Bolivar  Christian  and  other  prominent  citizens; 
and  such  other  delegations  as  had  been  able  to  stem 
the  torrents  which  the  great  freshet  had  made  of  even 
the  smaller  streams. 

"It  was  remarked  that  the  different  classes  who 
joined  in  the  procession  mingled  into  each  other,  and 
that  among  the  boards  of  the  college  and  institute, 
the  faculties,  the  students  and  cadets,  the  legislative 
committee,  the  delegations,  and  even  the  clergy,  were 
many  who  might  with  equal  propriety  have  joined  the 
soldier  guard  of  honor;  for  they,  too,  had  followed  the 
standard  of  Lee  in  the  days  that  tried  men's  souls. 

"Along  the  streets  the  buildings  were  all  appropri 
ately  draped,  and  crowds  gathered  on  the  corners 
and  the  balconies  to  see  the  procession  pass.  Not  a 
flag  floated  above  the  procession,  and  nothing  was  seen 
that  looked  like  an  attempt  at  display.  The  old  soldiers 
wore  their  ordinary  citizens'  dress,  with  a  simple 
black  ribbon  in  the  lapel  of  their  coats;  and  Traveller, 
led  by  two  old  soldiers,  had  the  simple  trappings  of 
mourning  on  his  saddle. 

"The  Virginia  Military  Institute  was  very  beauti 
fully  draped,  and  from  its  turrets  hung  at  half-mast, 
and  draped  in  mourning,  the  flags  of  all  of  the  States 
of  the  late  Southern  Confederacy. 

"When  the  procession  reached  the  institute,  it  passed 
the  corps  of  cadets  drawn  up  in  line,  and  a  guard  of 
honor  presented  arms  as  the  hearse  passed.  When 


DEATH  AND  FUNERAL  OF  GENERAL  LEE  221 

it  reached  the  chapel,  where  an  immense  throng  had 
assembled,  the  students  and  cadets,  about  six  hundred 
and  fifty  strong,  marched  into  the  left  door  and  aisle 
past  the  remains  and  out  by  the  right  aisle  and  door 
to  their  appropriate  place.  The  rest  of  the  procession 
then  filed  in.  The  family,  joined  by  Drs.  Barton  and 
Madison,  the  attending  physicians,  and  Colonels  W. 
H.  Taylor  and  C.  S.  Venable,  members  of  General 
Lee's  staff  during  the  war,  occupied  seats  immediately 
in  front  of  the  pulpit;  and  the  clergy,  of  whom  a  number 
were  present,  faculty  of  the  college,  and  faculty  of 
the  institute,  had  places  on  the  platform. 

"The  coffin  was  covered  with  flowers  and  ever 
greens,  while  the  front  of  the  drapery  thrown  over  it 
was  decorated  with  crosses  of  evergreen  and  immor 
telles. 

"Rev.  Dr.  Pendleton,  the  long  intimate  personal 
friend  of  General  Lee,  his  chief  of  artillery  during  the 
war,  and  his  pastor  the  past  five  years,  read  the  beauti 
ful  burial  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church.  No 
sermon  was  preached,  and  nothing  said  besides  the 
simple  service,  in  accordance  with  the  known  wishes 
of  General  Lee. 

"After  the  funeral  services  were  concluded  in  the 
chapel,  the  body  was  removed  to  the  vault  prepared 
for  its  reception,  and  the  concluding  services  read  by 
the  chaplain  from  the  bank  on  the  southern  side  of 
the  chapel,  in  front  of  the  vault. 

"There  was  sung,  in  the  chapel,  the  I24th  hymn  of 
the  Episcopal  collection;  and,  after  the  coffin  was 


222      GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

lowered  into  the  vault,  the  congregation  sang  the  grand 
old  hymn, 

'How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord/ 

"This  was  always  a  favorite  hymn  of  General  Lee's, 
and  was,  therefore,  especially  appropriate  upon  this  sad 
occasion. 

"The  vault  is  constructed  of  brick,  lined  with  cement. 
The  top  just  reaches  the  floor  of  the  library,  and  is 
double  capped  with  white  marble,  on  which  is  the 
simple  inscription: 

'ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE, 
Born  January  19,  1807; 
Died  October  12,  1870. 

"This  temporary  structure  is  to  be  replaced  by  a 
beautiful  sarcophagus,  the  design  of  which  has  been 
already  committed  to  Valentine,  the  gifted  Virginia 
sculptor." 

The  simple  services  concluded,  the  great  assemblage, 
with  hearts  awed  and  saddened,  defiled  through  the 
vaulted  room  in  which  was  the  tomb,  to  pay  the  last  token 
of  respect  to  the  mighty  dead.  Thus  ended  the  funeral 
of  General  Robert  E.  Lee. 


GENERAL  LEE'S  LAST  OFFICE 

By  DR.  J.  WILLIAM  JONES 

This  brief  contribution  from  the  pen  of  a  former  Chaplain  in  the 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  who  was  also  a  noted  author  and  editor 
of  books  and  magazines  relating  to  the  War  of  Secession,  was 
published  in  the  Confederate  Veteran  for  Sept.,  1899. — Editor. 

WHEN  our  great  chieftain,  after  the  close  of 
the  great  "War  between  the  States/'  turned 
his  back  upon  offers  of  pecuniary  assistance 
and  positions  with  large  salaries  and  bright  promise 
of  rich  emoluments,  and  went  to  preside  over  Wash 
ington  College,  at  Lexington,  Va.,  in  order,  as  he  ex 
pressed  it,  to  "teach  young  men  to  do  their  duty  in 
life,"  he  built  with  the  first  money  he  could  secure  for 
the  purpose  a  commodious,  neat,  and  substantial 
chapel.  In  the  basement  of  this  chapel  was  the  college 
library,  the  office  of  his  secretary,  and  General  Lee's 
own  office.  This  latter  was  neatly  but  not  extrava 
gantly  furnished  with  desks,  bookshelves,  chairs,  and 
especially  a  large  round  table  at  which  the  President 
sat  in  an  arm-chair,  and  on  which  he  wrote,  with 
letters,  pamphlets,  stationery,  etc.,  conveniently  ar 
ranged  and  always  kept  in  that  neat  order  which  so 
eminently  characterized  the  man. 

Here  he  received  members  of  the  faculty,  students, 
or  other  visitors  with  the  cordial,  easy  grace  which 
made  a  visit  to  the  office  so  pleasant. 


224     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

On  Wednesday,  September  28,  1870,  President  Lee 
was  at  his  post  of  duty,  and  after  attending  morning 
chapel  service,  as  was  his  wont  every  day,  he  went  into 
his  office  and  was  busy  all  the  morning  with  his  cor 
respondence,  etc.  At  3  o'clock  he  went  to  his  home 
for  dinner,  leaving  a  half-finished  letter  on  his  table. 
At  4  o'clock  he  presided  over  an  important  meeting 
of  the  vestry  of  his  Church — Grace  Episcopal  Church — 
from  which  he  did  not  return  home  until  7  o'clock, 
finding  the  family  waiting  tea  for  him.  He  started  to 
ask  a  blessing,  when  he  was  smitten  with  the  fatal 
disease  from  which  he  died  soon  after  9  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  October  12. 

His  office  has  been  kept  ever  since  just  as  he  left  it. 
The  half-finished  letter,  the  inkstand,  pens,  letter 
heads,  pamphlets,  packages  of  letters,  college  reports, 
etc.,  all  remind  one  of  the  great  President  who  on  that 
day  left  his  busy  workshop  to  enter  so  soon  upon  his 
glorious  rest. 

The  visitor  to  this  Mecca  of  our  Southland — the 
tomb  of  Lee  and  the  grave  of  Stonewall  Jackson, 
Lexington,  in  the  Valley  of  Virginia, — will  be  sure  to 
enter  this  beautiful  chapel  and  look  with  interest  on 
the  pew  the  lamented  President  always  occupied. 
Then  he  will  gaze  long  and  with  intense  gratification 
on  the  pure  white  marble  just  in  the  rear  of  the  college 
platform,  in  which  the  genius  of  Edward  Valentine  has 
produced  one  of  the  most  superb  works  of  art  on  this 
continent  and  given  us  a  veritable  "Marse  Robert 
asleep." 


RECUMBENT  STATUE  OF  GENERAL  LEE,  BY  VALENTINE 
MAUSOLEUM  BENEATH  THE  RECUMBENT  STATUE 


GENERAL  LEE'S  LAST  OFFICE  225 

He  goes  below  and  gazes  with  solemn  awe  on  the 
vault  in  which  sleep  the  ashes  of  America's  greatest 
soldier,  the  world's  model  man;  and  then  he  turns  into 
the  office  where  there  are  such  precious  mementos, 
such  hallowed  memories  of  the  greatest  college  Presi 
dent  which  this  country  ever  produced. 

May  the  office  be  ever  preserved  just  as  he  left  it, 
and  future  generations  of  students  draw  inspiration 
from  the  precious  memories  which  cluster  there! 


THE  MAUSOLEUM  AND  RECUMBENT  STATUE 

By  COL.  WILLIAM  ALLAN 

This  description  of  the  Mausoleum  and  Recumbent  Statue  and  account 
of  the  dedication  of  the  latter  was  written  by  a  member  of  General  Lee's 
faculty  and  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Lee  Memorial  Association 
which  was  organized  to  provide  a  suitable  monument  expressing  the  love  and 
veneration  of  the  South  for  its  great  leader.  It  is  taken  from  a  pamphet 
published  by  the  Washington  and  Lee  University  shortly  after  the  dedicatory 
ceremonies  in  1883. — Editor. 

MRS.  MARY  CUSTIS  LEE  was  requested 
by  the  executive  committee  [of  the  Lee 
Memorial  Association],  to  indicate  her  prefer 
ence  in  regard  to  the  monument  to  be  erected  by  the 
association,  and  at  her  suggestion,  Mr.  Ed.  V.  Valen 
tine,  the  distinguished  Virginian  sculptor,  was  sent 
for.  Mr.  Valentine  had,  the  preceding  summer, 
modeled  a  bust  of  General  Lee  from  life,  which  was 
considered  an  admirable  work  of  art.  Mrs.  Lee,  after 
examining  a  number  of  drawings  and  photographs  of 
celebrated  works  of  art,  suggested,  as  a  suitable  design 
for  the  monument,  a  recumbent  figure  of  General  Lee 
lying  asleep  upon  the  field  of  battle.  The  design  was 
suggested  to  her  by  Rauch's  figure  of  Louise  of  Prussia 
in  the  mausoleum  at  Charlottenburg.  This  figure 
of  Lee,  somewhat  above  life  size,  was  to  be  placed  upon 
a  sarcophagus  suitably  inscribed  and  decorated.  The 


THE  MAUSOLEUM  AND  RECUMBENT  STATUE       227 

whole  was  to  be  of  white  marble  and  was  designed  to  be 
placed  over  the  remains  of  General  Lee. 


On  April  i,  1875,  Mr.  Valentine  reported  the  work 
done,  and  the  association  took  steps  to  have  the 
monument  brought  to  Lexington.  At  this  time  the 
students  of  Richmond  College  made  application  for 
the  "privilege  of  taking  charge  of  the  monument  when 
it  is  sent  up  to  Lexington,  and  bearing  the  expenses 
of  its  transportation."  This  kind  and  courteous  pro 
posal  was  cordially  accepted  by  the  executive  com 
mittee,  and  the  monument  was  brought  by  canal  from 
Richmond  under  an  escort  of  the  students  of  Richmond 
College.  The  escort  was  composed  of  Messrs.  J.  T. 
E.  Thornhill,  W.  M.  Turpin,  R.  H.  Pitt,  A.  M.  Harris, 
H.  C.  Smith  and  J.  W.  Martin,  of  Virginia;  S.  S.  Wood 
ward  of  New  Jersey;  R.  T.  Hanks,  of  Alabama,  and 
C.  N.  Donaldson,  of  South  Carolina.  As  the  figure  was 
being  taken  from  the  artists  studio  to  the  boat  landing 
in  Richmond,  on  April  13,  a  large  number  of  the  citi 
zens  of  Richmond,  headed  by  the  students  of  Rich 
mond  College  and  the  First  Virginia  Regiment,  fol 
lowed  in  procession  to  honor  the  memory  of  Lee.  The 
monument  reached  Lexington,  April  17,  1875.  Mr. 
Thornhill,  in  appropriate  terms,  delivered  it  to  the 
committee,  on  whose  behalf  ex-Gov.  John  Letcher 
responded.  Addresses  were  also  made  on  this  occasion 
by  Lt.  Gen.  Early  and  Col.  W.  Preston  Johnston. 
The  monument  was  temporarily  stored  in  a  room  upon 


228     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

the  grounds  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  and 
confided,  for  the  time,  to  the  guardianship  of  the  stu 
dents  of  that  institution. 

When  the  completion  of  the  figure  had  been  assured, 
the  executive  committee  turned  their  attention  to 
providing  a  suitable  mausoleum  in  which  it  might 
be  placed.  Gen.  R.  D.  Lilly  was  appointed  agent  to  col 
lect  funds  for  this  purpose  in  the  winter  of  1874-5.  •  •  • 

A  year  now  passed,  and  in  May,  1877,  J.  Crawford 
Neilson,  Esq.,  a  leading  architect  of  Baltimore,  offered 
to  furnish  a  design  for  the  mausoleum.  Mr.  Neilson's 
kind  offer  was  accepted  and  he  was  invited  to  visit 
Lexington.  After  full  conference  and  investigation 
Mr.  Neilson  proposed  as  the  design  for  the  mausoleum 
a  rectangular  apse  to  be  placed  in  the  rear  of  the  chapel 
of  the  university,  where  General  Lee  was  buried.  His 
plan  was  approved  and  adopted  by  the  Association. 
As  described  at  the  time,  it  "consists  of  a  fire  proof 
apse,  an  addition  to  the  rear  of  the  chapel,  conforming 
in  material  and  design  to  the  chapel  itself.  The  lower 
story  is  a  crypt  of  massive  stone  masonry,  and  the 
superstructure  is  built  of  brick.  The  interior  is  en 
crusted  with  brick  and  Cleveland  stone,  of  subdued 
tints,  and  is  lighted  from  above.  The  whole  constitutes 
a  solemn  and  tender  memorial  of  the  warrior  who  rests 
in  peace  beneath,  surrounded  by  the  ashes  of  those 
who  were  dearest  on  earth/' 

********* 

The  final  arrangements  having  been  completed 
under  the  supervision  of  the  architect,  Mr.  Neilson, 


THE  MAUSOLEUM  AND  RECUMBENT  STATUE       229 

and  the  artist,  Mr.  Valentine,  the  monument  was 
formally  transferred  to  the  association  by  Mr.  Val 
entine  on  May  7,  1883,  and  was  accepted  on  their 
behalf  by  the  Hon.  W.  A.  Anderson,  who  in  fitting 
terms  gave  expression  to  the  appreciation  and  admira 
tion  felt  by  all  present  as  they  looked  upon  the  beautiful 
creation  of  the  genius  of  Valentine  and  realized  the 
perfection  of  the  arrangements  made  by  the  skill  and 
taste  of  Mr.  Neilson  for  its  preservation  and  display. 

The  dimensions  of  the  mausoleum  on  the  ground 
plan  are  31x36  feet.  The  lower  story,  which  is  con 
structed  of  coraline  limestone  to  correspond  with  the 
basement  of  the  chapel,  is  a  crypt  containing  cells  or 
receptacles  for  twenty-eight  bodies.  Three  of  these 
contain  the  ashes  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  Mrs.  Mary  Custis 
Lee,  and  Miss  Agnes  Lee.*  Adjoining  the  crypt, 
but  underneath  the  chapel,  is  the  room  used  as  an 
office  by  General  Lee  during  the  later  years  of  his 
presidency  of  Washington  College,  which  is  preserved 
as  he  left  it  on  the  day  he  was  taken  ill. 

The  chamber  containing  the  monument  is  directly 
over  the  crypt  arid  is  of  brick  like  the  corresponding 
part  of  the  chapel.  "The  floor  of  the  chamber  is  tes 
sellated  with  white-veined  marble  and  encaustic  tiles. 
The  walls  consist  of  panels  of  grayish  Indiana  marble 

*  In  more  recent  years  the  remains  of  other  members  of  the  Lee  family 
have  been  added,  as  follows: 

Gen.  Henry  ("Light  Horse  Harry")  Lee,  father  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee;  Gen. 
G.  W.  Custis  and  Capt.  Robert  E.  Lee,  sons  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee;  Misses 
Mildred  Childe  and  Mary  Custis  Lee,  daughters  of  Gen.  R.  E.  Lee,  and 
Mrs.  Julia  Carter  Lee,  second  wife  of  Capt.  R.  E.  Lee. — Editor. 


230     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

enframed  in  dark  Baltimore  pressed  brick,  and  sur 
mounted  by  semicircular  compartments  which  can  be 
used  for  basso-rilievo  medallions.  In  one  of  these  com 
partments,  immediately  facing  the  chapel,  is  inscribed 
the  name  of  General  Lee,  together  with  the  dates  of 
his  birth  and  death.  Immediately  around  the  base  of 
the  sarcophagus  is  a  border  of  dark  tiling.  The  tes 
sellated  floor  is  on  the  level  of  the  platform  of  the 
chapel,  which  is  raised  three  feet  above  the  floor  of  the 
audience  chamber. 

The  figure  and  couch,  which  are  of  statuary  marble, 
are  mounted  on  a  sarcophagus  simple  almost  to  severity 
in  its  order,  and  which  rests  on  a  granite  base  course. 
The  sides  of  the  sarcophagus  are  composed  of  two 
marble  panels  each,  the  space  between  the  panels 
bearing,  in  basso-rilievo^  on  the  one  side  the  Lee  coat  of 
arms,  and  on  the  other  the  arms  of  Virginia.  The 
head  and  foot  consist  of  one  panel  each,  the  former 
being  ornamented  by  a  simple  cross,  the  latter  bearing 
the  legend: 

ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE 

Born 
January  19,  1807; 

Died 
October  12,  1870. 

"The  figure  is  over  life  size,  and  rests  upon  a  heavily 
draped  couch  in  an  attitude  of  easy  repose,  the  head 
being  elevated  to  a  natural  position,  with  the  face 
turned  slightly  to  the  right.  The  feet  are  lightly 
crossed.  The  right  forearm  lies  across  the  breast — 


THE  MAUSOLEUM  AND  RECUMBENT  STATUE       231 

the  hand  holding  by  simple  weight  the  blanket  which 
covers  the  lower  part  of  the  body — while  the  left  arm 
is  fully  extended  along  the  couch,  this  hand  holding 
the  hilt  of  a  sword."  The  contour  of  the  limbs  is 
easily  discerned  through  the  covering  which  falls  over 
the  lower  part  of  the  body. 

An  anti-chamber  connects  the  monument  chamber 
with  the  chapel  and  is  separated  from  the  former  by 
iron  doors.  A  large  arched  opening,  heavily  curtained, 
leads  from  the  chapel  into  this  ante-chamber.  The 
monument  is  so  placed  and  the  light,  which  falls  from 
the  room,  so  arranged,  that  when  the  curtains  are 
drawn  and  the  iron  doors  open,  the  figure  can  be  seen 
from  nearly  every  part  of  the  floor  and  galleries  of  the 
chapel. 

The  28th  of  June,  the  day  for  the  public  opening  of 
the  mausoleum,  was  the  day  after  the  Commencement 
of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  the  exercises  of 
which  had  already  drawn  many  persons  to  Lexington. 
In  addition  to  these  a  much  larger  concourse  of  ex- 
Confederate  soldiers  gathered  from  every  quarter  on 
the  day  itself.  All  old  Confederates  and  all  admirers 
of  General  Lee  were  invited  to  attend,  and  special 
cards  were  sent  to  all  former  cabinet  officers  of  the 
Confederate  States,  the  general  officers  of  the  Con 
federate  army,  the  principal  officers  of  the  Confederate 
navy,  the  members  of  General  Lee's  staff,  the  Governors 
of  the  Southern  States,  the  executive  and  judicial 
officers  of  Virginia,  and  the  representatives  in  Congress 
and  the  senators  from  Virginia.  No  effort  was  spared 


232     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

by  the  people  of  Lexington  and  Rockbridge  county 
to  honor  the  day.  Business  was  suspended,  and  the 
people  devoted  themselves  to  the  exercises  of  the  day, 
and  to  entertaining  the  crowds  that  came  from  a 
distance.  Special  trains  on  the  Richmond  and  Al 
legheny  and  the  Shenandoah  Valley  railroads  brought 
numbers  from  every  point  within  reach.  A  large 
number  of  the  survivors  of  the  Stonewall  Brigade,  as 
well  as  other  commands  of  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia,  were  present.  Prominent  among  those  on 
the  ground  were  the  Maryland  Line,  consisting  of  the 
survivors  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors  of  that  State,  who 
had  served  in  the  Confederate  army  and  navy.  Be 
sides  residents  of  the  town  and  county,  there  were 
present  among  the  distinguished  persons  from  a  dis 
tance,  Gen.  Wade  Hampton,  Gen.  J.  A.  Early,  Gen. 
Fitz.  Lee,  Gen.  W.  H.  F.  Lee,  Gen.  Wm.  Terry,  Gen. 
Geo.  H.  Steuart,  Gen.  M.  D.  Corse,  Gen.  R.  D.  Lilly, 
Col.  Wm.  Norris,  Chief  of  the  Confederate  Signal 
Bureau,  Col.  H.  E.  Peyton  and  Col.  T.  M.  R.  Talcott, 
of  General  Lee's  Staff,  Col.  W.  H.  Palmer,  of  Gen. 
A.  P.  Hill's  Staff,  Capt.  R.  E.  Lee,  Capt.  J.  H.  H. 
Figgat,  Maj.  E.  L.  Rogers,  Judge  H.  W.  Bruce,  Judge 
J.  H.  Fulton,  Hon.  C.  R.  Breckinridge  of  Arkansas, 
Father  Ryan,  Rev.  Dr.  Alexander,  Leigh  Robinson, 
Esq.,  John  J.  Williams,  Esq.,  C.  W.  Button,  Esq., 
and  D.  Gardiner  Tyler,  Esq.  Mrs.  Gen.  Stonewall 
Jackson,  Mrs.  Gen.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  Mrs.  Gen. 
Geo.  E.  Pickett  and  Mrs.  Carlisle  (formerly  Mrs. 
Gen.  Geo.  B.  Anderson),  were  also  present.  The 


THE  MAUSOLEUM  AND  RECUMBENT  STATUE       233 

venerable  philanthropists,  W.  W.  Corcoran,  Esq.,  of 
Washington,  and  the  venerable  ex-Gov.  Wm.  Smith, 
of  Virginia,  honored  the  occasion  by  their  presence. 

In  the  morning  a  procession  was  formed  under 
General  Hampton  as  chief  marshal,  which  visited  the 
grave  of  Stonewall  Jackson  in  the  Lexington  cemetery. 
Here  were  seen  many  touching  evidences  of  the  devo 
tion  of  his  people  to  this  great  soldier.  The  soldiers  of 
the  Maryland  Line,  under  Gen.  G.  H.  Steuart,  who 
had  shared  in  many  of  Jackson's  campaigns,  brought 
a  handsome  bronze  tablet  inscribed  with  the  arms  of 
Maryland,  which  they  placed  at  the  head  of  his  grave. 
The  grave  itself  was  covered  with  flowers  and  im 
mortelles  placed  there  by  a  number  of  ladies  under 
the  direction  of  Miss  Edmonia  Waddell.  The  railing 
around  it  was  similarly  decorated,  and  at  each  corner 
was  a  shield  surrounded  by  an  evergreen  wreath,  and 
containing  a  motto  furnished  by  Mrs.  Margaret  J. 
Preston.  These  mottoes  were: 

1.  "Faith  that  could  not  fail  nor  yield, 
Was  the  legend  of  his  shield." 

"Port  Republic." 

2.  "From  the  land  for  which  he  bled, 
Honor  to  the  warrior  dead." 

"Manassas." 

3.  "From  the  field  of  death  and  fame, 
Borne  upon  his  shield  he  came." 

"Chancellorsville." 

4.  "In  the  Valley  let  me  lie, 
Underneath  God's  open  sky." 

"Lexington." 


234     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

More  precious  still  was  the  silent  tear  which  forced 
its  way  to  the  eye  of  many  an  old  soldier  as  the  green 
grave  brought  the  scenes  of  twenty  years  ago  before 
his  sight.  Among  the  beautiful  incidents  of  the  day 
was  the  following:  The  daughter  of  Ex-President 
Davis,  Miss  Winnie  Davis,  had  sent  to  General  Early 
two  floral  designs  composed  entirely  of  immortelles 
and  made  to  represent  the  Confederate  battle  flag. 
They  were  exquisite  in  design  and  finish.  One  was 
intended  for  the  grave  of  Lee  and  the  other  for  that  of 
Jackson.  General  Early  selected  Miss  Carrie  W.  Daniel, 
the  little  ten-year-old  daughter  of  the  orator  of  the 
day,  to  place  the  tribute  upon  Jackson's  grave.  The 
tomb  of  Lee  had  been  beautifully  decorated  with 
evergreens  and  flowers  by  a  committee  of  the  ladies  of 
Lexington  under  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Gen.  Edwin 
G.  Lee.  Amid  these  decorations  was  placed  the  Con 
federate  battle  flag  in  immortelles.  After  the  ceremonies 
of  the  day  were  over,  many  a  bronzed  and  gray-headed 
soldier  might  have  been  seen  culling  some  of  these 
beautiful  immortelles  from  the  graves  of  Lee  and 
Jackson  to  commit  as  a  sacred  memento  to  the  keeping 
of  his  children. 

The  procession  returned  from  the  cemetery  to  the 
grounds  of  Washington  and  Lee  University,  where  in 
front  of  the  chapel  a  stand  and  seats  had  been  placed 
for  the  accommodation  of  the  audience  and  speaker. 
The  day  was  a  propitious  one.  It  was  rainless,  cool 
and  bright.  By  11  o'clock  a  mass  of  from  8,000  to 
10,000  people  filled  the  grounds.  As  many  of  them  as 


THE  MAUSOLEUM  AND  RECUMBENT  STATUE       235 

could  get  within  sound  of  the  orator's  voice  gathered 
about  the  stand,  and  listened  with  absorbed  attention. 
In  the  absence  of  Gen.  Jos.  E.  Johnston,  who  was 
detained  at  home  by  serious  illness,  Lt.  General  Early 
introduced  Maj.  Daniel,  who  for  three  hours  held  his 
audience  by  the  spell  of  his  eloquence,  moving  it 
now  to  applause,  and  now  to  tears.  At  the  close  of  the 
speech,  General  Early  called  upon  Father  Ryan  to 
recite  his  poem,  "The  Sword  of  Lee."  As  the  poet's 
voice  gradually  rose  and  spread  over  the  throng  the 
intense  emotion  with  which  his  form  and  his  words  were 
filled  spread,  too,  and  fairly  thrilled  the  great  audience. 
The  moment  for  the  unveiling  of  the  figure  was 
then  announced  by  a  salute  fired  by  the  survivors  of 
the  "Rockbridge  Artillery,"  who  used  for  the  purpose 
two  guns  which  had  constituted  a  part  of  their  arma 
ment  at  the  first  battle  of  Manassas.  These  guns 
were  part  of  the  cadet  battery  used  by  Stonewall 
Jackson  when  a  professor  at  the  Virginia  Military  In 
stitute,  and  are  now  again  in  the  keeping  of  that  in 
stitution.  Some  fifty  of  the  former  members  of  this 
famous  artillery  company  had  assembled  for  the  oc 
casion,  and  under  Col.  Wm.  T.  Poague,  who  had  long 
been  their  captain,  for  a  few  moments  resumed  their 
former  organization  and  duties.  What  memories  of 
the  past,  what  deeds  of  daring,  and  what  days  of  toil, 
what  moving  incidents  of  camp  and  field  did  the  sound 
of  those  guns  recall  as  those  old  soldiers  looked  into 
the  faces  or  grasped  the  hands  they  had  not  seen  or 
felt  for  eighteen  years! 


236     GENERAL  ROBERT  E.  LEE  AFTER  APPOMATTOX 

As  the  guns  opened  fire  the  chapel  and  mausoleum 
were  thrown  open,  the  figure  was  unveiled  by  Miss 
Julia  Jackson  (daughter  of  Stonewall  Jackson),  and 
the  vast  throng  began  to  move  through  the  building 
to  view  it.  For  many  hours  the  current  continued  its 
steady  flow,  and  indeed  only  ceased  at  nightfall.  Mean 
time  the  hospitable  town  and  county  was  entertaining 
the  crowd  of  strangers.  The  houses  of  citizens  of  the 
town  were  everywhere  thrown  open,  and  handsome 
entertainments  were  provided  at  many  of  them.  In 
addition  to  this,  a  lunch,  provided  by  the  citizens  of 
the  county  and  town,  was  served  on  the  university 
grounds  to  several  thousand  people. 

The  evening  fell  upon  a  day  forever  marked  in  the 
annals  of  Lexington.  It  was  felt  by  all  that  Valentine's 
chisel  had  created  a  worthy  memorial  of  Lee,  and  that 
Daniel,  in  words  not  less  fitting  had  committed  it  to 
the  keeping  of  the  future. 


APPENDIX 

LETTER  of  GENERAL  LEE  to  LORD  ACTON 

This  letter,  written  while  General  Lee  was  President  of  Washington 
College,  is  unique,  since  its  author  was  extremely  cautious  and  reticent 
among  his  own  people  on  the  subject  which  he  here  discussed  freely  with  his 
foreign  correspondent.  It  will  be  found  in  Lord  Acton's  Correspondence,  I, 
302-305. — Editor. 

Lexington,  Vir., 
15  Dec.,  1866. 

Sir, — Although  your  letter  of  the  4th  ulto.  has  been 
before  me  some  days  unanswered,  I  hope  you  will  not 
attribute  it  to  a  want  of  interest  in  the  subject,  but  to 
my  inability  to  keep  pace  with  my  correspondence. 
As  a  citizen  of  the  South  I  feel  deeply  indebted  to  you 
for  the  sympathy  you  have  evinced  in  its  cause,  and 
am  conscious  that  I  owe  your  kind  consideration  of 
myself  to  my  connection  with  it.  The  influence  of 
current  opinion  in  Europe  upon  the  current  politics 
of  America  must  always  be  salutary;  and  the  importance 
of  the  questions  now  at  issue  in  the  United  States, 
involving  not  only  constitutional  freedom  and  con 
stitutional  government  in  this  country,  but  the  prog 
ress  of  universal  liberty  and  civilization,  invests  your 
proposition  with  peculiar  value,  and  will  add  to  the 
obligation  which  every  true  American  must  owe  you 
for  your  efforts  to  guide  that  opinion  aright.  Amid 


238  APPENDIX 

the  conflicting  statements  and  sentiments  in  both 
countries,  it  will  be  no  easy  task  to  discover  the  truth, 
or  to  relieve  it  from  the  mass  of  prejudice  and  passion, 
with  which  it  has  been  covered  by  party  spirit.  I  am 
conscious  of  the  compliment  conveyed  in  your  request 
for  my  opinion  as  to  the  light  in  which  American  pol 
itics  should  be  viewed,  and  had  I  the  ability,  I  have  not 
the  time  to  enter  upon  a  discussion,  which  was  com 
menced  by  the  founders  of  the  constitution  and  has 
been  continued  to  the  present  day.  I  can  only  say 
that  while  I  have  considered  the  preservation  of  the 
constitutional  power  of  the  General  Government  to 
be  the  foundation  of  our  peace  and  safety  at  home  and 
abroad,  I  yet  believe  that  the  maintenance  of  the 
rights  and  authority  reserved  to  the  states  and  to  the 
people,  not  only  essential  to  the  adjustment  and  bal 
ance  of  the  general  system,  but  the  safeguard  to  the 
continuance  of  a  free  government.  I  consider  it  as 
the  chief  source  of  stability  to  our  political  system, 
whereas  the  consolidation  of  the  states  into  one  vast 
republic,  sure  to  be  aggressive  abroad  and  despotic  at 
home,  will  be  the  certain  precursor  of  that  ruin  which 
has  overwhelmed  all  those  that  have  preceded  it.  I 
need  not  refer  one  so  well  acquainted  as  you  are  with 
American  history,  to  the  State  papers  of  Washington 
and  Jefferson,  the  representatives  of  the  federal  and 
democratic  parties,  denouncing  consolidation  and 
centralization  of  power,  as  tending  to  the  subversion 
of  State  Governments,  and  to  despotism.  The  New 
England  states,  whose  citizens  are  the  fiercest  oppo- 


APPENDIX  239 

nents  of  the  Southern  states,  did  not  always  avow  the 
opinions  they  now  advocate.  Upon  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  they  virtually  asserted  the 
right  of  secession  through  their  prominent  men;  and 
in  the  convention  which  assembled  at  Hartford  in 
1814,  they  threatened  the  disruption  of  the  Union  un 
less  the  war  should  be  discontinued.  The  assertion 
of  this  right  has  been  repeatedly  made  by  their  poli 
ticians  when  their  party  was  weak,  and  Massachusetts, 
the  leading  state  in  hostility  to  the  South,  declares 
in  the  preamble  to  her  constitution,  that  the  people 
of  that  commonwealth  "have  the  sole  and  exclusive 
right  of  governing  themselves  as  a  free  sovereign  and 
independent  state,  and  do,  and  forever  hereafter  shall, 
exercise  and  enjoy  every  power,  jurisdiction,  and  right 
which  is  not,  or  may  hereafter  be  by  them  expressly 
delegated  to  the  United  States  of  America  in  congress 
assembled."  Such  has  been  in  substance  the  language 
of  other  State  governments,  and  such  the  doctrine 
advocated  by  the  leading  men  of  the  country  for  the 
last  seventy  years.  Judge  Chase,  the  present  Chief 
Justice  of  the  U.  S.,  as  late  as  1850,  is  reported  to  have 
stated  in  the  Senate,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  that 
he  "knew  of  no  remedy  in  case  of  the  refusal  of  a  state 
to  perform  its  stipulations,"  thereby  acknowledging 
the  sovereignty  and  independence  of  state  action. 
But  I  will  not  weary  you  with  this  unprofitable  dis 
cussion.  Unprofitable  because  the  judgment  of  reason 
has  been  displaced  by  the  arbitrament  of  war,  waged 
for  the  purpose  as  avowed  of  maintaining  the  union 


240  APPENDIX 

of  the  states.  If,  therefore,  the  result  of  the  war  is  to 
be  considered  as  having  decided  that  the  union  of  the 
states  is  inviolable  and  perpetual  under  the  constitu 
tion,  it  naturally  follows  that  it  is  as  incompetent  for 
the  general  government  to  impair  its  integrity  by  the 
exclusion  of  a  state,  as  for  the  states  to  do  so  by  se 
cession;  and  that  the  existence  and  rights  of  a  state  by 
the  constitution  are  as  indestructible  as  the  union  itself. 
The  legitimate  consequence  then  must  be  the  perfect 
equality  of  rights  of  all  the  states;  the  exclusive  right 
of  each  to  regulate  its  internal  affairs  under  rules  es 
tablished  by  the  constitution,  and  the  right  of  each 
state  to  prescribe  for  itself  the  qualifications  of  suffrage. 
The  South  has  contended  only  for  the  supremacy  of 
the  constitution,  and  the  just  administration  of  the 
laws  made  in  pursuance  of  it.  Virginia  to  the  last 
made  great  efforts  to  save  the  union,  and  urged  har 
mony  and  compromise.  Senator  Douglass,  in  his 
remarks  upon  the  compromise  bill  recommended  by 
the  committee  of  thirteen  in  1861,  stated  that  every 
member  from  the  South,  including  Messrs.  Toombs 
and  Davis,  expressed  their  willingness  to  accept  the 
proposition  of  Senator  Crittenden  from  Kentucky,  as  a 
final  settlement  of  the  controversy,  if  sustained  by 
the  republican  party,  and  that  the  only  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  an  amicable  adjustment  was  with  the  re 
publican  party.  Who  then  is  responsible  for  the  war? 
Although  the  South  would  have  preferred  any  honor 
able  compromise  to  the  fratricidal  war  which  has  taken 
place,  she  now  accepts  in  good  faith  its  constitutional 


APPENDIX  241 

results,  and  receives  without  reserve  the  amendment 
which  has  already  been  made  to  the  constitution  for 
the  extinction  of  slavery.  That  is  an  event  that  has 
been  long  sought,  though  in  a  different  way,  and  by 
none  has  it  been  more  earnestly  desired  than  by  citi 
zens  of  Virginia.  In  other  respects  I  trust  that  the 
constitution  may  undergo  no  change,  but  that  it  may 
be  handed  down  to  succeeding  generations  in  the  form 
we  received  it  from  our  forefathers.  The  desire  I  feel 
that  the  Southern  states  should  possess  the  good  opin 
ion  of  one  whom  I  esteem  as  highly  as  yourself,  has 
caused  me  to  extend  my  remarks  farther  than  I  in 
tended,  and  I  fear  it  has  led  me  to  exhaust  your  pa 
tience.  If  what  I  have  said  should  serve  to  give  any 
information  as  regards  American  politics,  and  enable 
you  to  enlighten  public  opinion  as  to  the  true  interests 
of  this  distracted  country,  I  hope  you  will  pardon  its 
prolixity. 

In  regard  to  your  inquiry  as  to  my  being  engaged  in 
preparing  a  narrative  of  the  campaigns  in  Virginia,  I 
regret  to  state  that  I  progress  slowly  in  the  collection 
of  the  necessary  documents  for  its  completion.  I 
particularly  feel  the  loss  of  the  official  returns  showing 
the  small  numbers  with  which  the  battles  were  fought. 
I  have  not  seen  the  work  by  the  Prussian  officer  you 
mention  and  therefore  cannot  speak  of  his  accuracy 
in  this  respect. — With  sentiments  of  great  respect, 
I  remain  your  obt.  servant, 

R.  E.  LEE. 

Sir  John  Dalberg  Acton. 


INDEX 


Acton,  Lord,  letter  from  Lee,  168, 

237-241 

Adams,  Charles  Francis,  cited,  98; 
address  on  Lee,  196  n.;  tablet  in 
Lee  Memorial  Chapel,  197  n. 
Ajax,  Lee's  horse,  112 
Aldrich,  James,  student,  138 
Alexander,  Dr.,  at  Lee  exercises,  232 
Alexander,  Archibald,  and  Lee,  149 
Allan,  Col.  William,  ordnance  offi 
cer,   23;   of  Washington   College, 
107,  108;  on  the  mausoleum  and 
statue  of  Lee,  226-236 
Allen,    Joseph    J.,    recollections    of 

Lee,  131-132 

Allison,  ,  student  at  Lexing 
ton,  70 
Ammen,  Dr.  S.  Z.,  on  Lee  and  the 

student,  142-145 
Anderson,  David  L.,  at  Washington 

College,  59 

Anderson,  William  A.,  rector  of 
Washington  and  Lee  University, 
letter  cited,  5  n.-6  n.;  on  Lee  as  a 
man,  196-202;  and  Lee  monu 
ment,  229 

Arlington,  Lee's  home,  63,  164 
Army  of  Northern  Virginia,  mate 
rials  for  history  of,   160-161;  at 
Mine  Run,  185;  at  Lee  mansoleum, 
232 

Barclay,  Hugh,  trustee  of  Wash 
ington  College,  3 

Barton,  Dr.  H.  T.,  Lee's  physician, 
209,211,221 


Beauregard,  Gen.  P.  G.  T.,  proposed 

history  by,  160 
Berlin,  F.  A.,  recollections  of  Lee, 

40-48. 
Blackmar,    John,     recollections    of 

Lee,  109-111 
Bledsoe,  Dr.  A.  T.,  letter  from  Lee 

cited,  159 

Bond,  Louis,  at  Washington  Col 
lege,  59 

Books,  read  by  Lee,  165-181 
Bowen,  H.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  219-220 
Boyle,    Rev.    William,    recollections 

of  Lee,  119 

Breckenridge,  Clifton,  as  debater,  61 
Breckinridge,   Hon.   C.   R.,   at  Lee 

exercises,  232 
Brockenbrough,    Judge    John    W., 

rector  of  Washington  College,  3, 

4>  S»  23»  ?6;  eulogy  of  Lee,   13; 

son  of,  129 
Brooke,  Col.  John  M.,  at  Lexington, 

23 

Brown,  Rev.  Dr.,  trustee  of  Wash 
ington  College,  193 

Brown,  Rev.  C.  C.,  recollections  of 
Lee,  138-141 

Brown,  Maj.  Campbell,  73 

Bruce,  Judge  H.  W.,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 

Button,  C.  W.,  at  Lee  exercises,  232 

Byron,  Lord,  incident  of,  146 

Cameron,  Mrs.,  112 
Campbell,  Prof.  John,  42,  144 
Carlisle,  Mrs.,  at  Lee  exercises,  232 


244 


INDEX 


Carlton,  Hubbard  G.,  recollections       Dorman,    Maj.,   office   of,    113;    at 


of  Lee,  116-117 


Lee's  funeral,  218 


Carter,  Dr.  Charles,  letter  from  Lee      Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  on  the  corn- 


cited,  159 

Cary,  Archibald,  ancestors,  173 
Chancellorsville,  battle  of,  159 
Chase,  Judge,  cited,  239 


promise  bill,  240 

Early,  Gen.  J.  A.,  at  Lee  exercises, 
227,  232,  234,  235 


Chilton,  Gen.  R.  H.,  letter  to  Lee,       Edmondson,  Hon.  J.   K.,  at  Lee's 


109 


funeral,  215,  218 


Christian,  Col.    Bolivar,  trustee  of      Elliott,   Bishop,  of  Georgia,   death 
Washington  College,  i,  2,  75,  76;          of,  189 

Estill,  Mrs.,  59 


at  Lee's  funeral,  220 
Cockrill,  S.  R.,  64,  70 


Estill,  W.  W.,  tribute  to  Lee,  49-53 


Collins,    W.    W.,    at    Washington      Ewell,  Gen.  R.  S.,  letters  from,  69, 

College,  59  73 

Collyar,    John    B.,    observation    of      Ewing,  J.  W.,  incidents  of  Lee,  69-74 


Lee,  65-68 


Ewing,  Judge  Robert,  recollections 


Confederate    Veteran,    quoted,    65,  of  Lee,  54-58 

223 
Congress,     U.     S.,     reconstruction       Farrar,  Col.  F.  R.,  letter  from  Lee, 


committee,  157,  166 


189 


Corcoran,  W.  W.,  at  Lee  exercises,       Fergusson,    Harvey    B.,    record    at 


233 


Washington  College,  131-132 


Corse,  Gen.  M.  D.,  at  Lee  exercises,       Figgat,  Capt.  J.  H.  H.,  at  Lee  exer- 


232 


cises,  232 


Crittenden,  J.  J.,  compromise  offered       Fleming,  Rev.  Robert  H.,  recollec- 


by,  240 


tions  of  Lee,  118 


Custis,  Gen.  G.  W.  P.,  Memoir  of,       Forrest,  Gen.  N.  B.,  Lee's  opinion 
168  n.  of,  71-72 

Franco-Prussian  War,  Lee's  interest 
Daniel,  Maj.,  at  Lee  exercises,  235,          in,  158 


236 


Franklin     Society    Library,     books 


read  by  Lee,  164,  165-169,  180- 
181 


Daniel,    Carrie    W.,    at    Jackson's 

grave,  234 
Davis,    Jefferson,    trial    of,    96-97;       Fredericksburg,  Va.,  Lee  at,  79 

address  cited,  98;  attitude  toward       Fulton,  Judge  J.  H.,  at  Lee  exer- 

compromise,  240  cises,  232 

Davis,  Winnie,  floral  designs  from, 


234 


Gardner,  Washington,  D.  C,  pho- 


Deadrick,    Dr.    Chalmers,    recollec-  tographer,  46 

tions  of  Lee,  135-138  Gettysburg  campaign,  103,  107 


Donaldson,  C.  N.,  227 


Gonzales,  Ruperto,  64 


INDEX 


245 


Gordon,  Dr.  Edward  C.,  recollec 
tions  of  Lee,  75-105;  cited, 
164  n.-i65  n.,  166  n. 

Gordon,  Gen.  John  B.,  at  Peters 
burg,  1 86 

Goshen  Pass,  148 

Grace  Church,  Lexington,  Lee  as 
vestryman,  99,  108 

Graham,  John  M.,  student,  69,  70 

Graham  Literary  Society,  61,  in 

Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  mentioned,  96, 
101 

Graves,  Prof.  C.  A.,  on  Lee  at 
Lexington,  22-3 1 

Grosart,  Rev.  Alexander  B.,  writ 
ings  of,  1 66 

Hagood,  Gen.  Johnson,  introduc 
tion  by,  139 

Hamilton,  A.  H.,  recollections  of 
Lee,  119-120 

Hampton,  Gen.  Wade,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232,  233 

Hanger,  Marshall,  at  Lee's  funeral, 

220 

Hanks,  R.  T.,  227 

Harman,   Maj.   John  A.,   of  Lee's 

staff,  69,  70,  107 
Harman,  Mike  G.,  recollections  of 

Lee,  107-108 
Harris,  A.  M.,  227 
Harris,  Prof.  Carter  J.,  54,  144 
Hartford  Convention,  239 
Hedger,  C.  W.,  recollections  of  Lee, 

III-II2 

Hill,  Gen.  A.  P.,  at  Mine  Run,  185; 

at  Petersburg,  186 
Hoge,   Rev.   Dr.   Moses   D.,   letter 

from  Lee,  190-191 

Holden,  ,  of  Lexington,  131 

Holland,     R.     A.,     commencement 

address,  62 


Hope,  Hon.  A.  W.  Beresford,  letter 

from  Lee,  188 

Hot  Springs,  Va.,  Lee  at,  207 
Hughes,  Jonathan,  horse  thief,  28- 

29,  30 
Humphreys,  Prof.  M.  W.,  on  Lee  as 

college    president,     32-39;    diary 

quoted,  71  n.;  mentioned,  123 
Hunter,    Gen.,    raid,   7    n.;    library 

destroyed  by,  164  n. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  anecdote  con 
cerning,  15 

Jackson,  Julia,  at  Lee  exercises,  236 

Jackson,  Stonewall,  home  of,  22,  24; 

pastor  of,  217;  grave  of,  224,  233, 

234;  at  V.  M.  I.,  235 

Jackson,    Mrs.    Stonewall,    at    Lee 

exercises,  232 

Jackson,  T.  0.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  220 
Johns,  Bishop,  confirmation  of  Lee, 

99 

Johnson,  Gen.  B.  T.,  at  Lee's 
funeral,  218 

Johnston,  Gen.  Joseph  E.,  proposed 
history  by,  160;  illness  of,  235 

Johnston,  Col.  William  P.,  at  Lex 
ington,  23;  on  Lee's  death  and 
funeral,  206-222;  address  by,  227 

Jones,  Dr.  J.  William,  Baptist 
pastor,  62;  cited,  161,  218;  on 
Christian  character  of  Lee,  182- 
195;  at  Lee's  funeral,  217;  on 
Lee's  last  office,  223-225 

Jones,  Rev.  W.  Strother,  recollec 
tions  of  Lee,  106 

Joynes,  Prof.  E.  S.,  cited,  7,  34; 
on  Lee  as  college  president,  16- 
21 ;  explosion  in  room  of,  70, 
71  n.;  mentioned,  130,  144 

Junkin,  Dr.  George,  president  of 
Washington  College,  24 


246 


INDEX 


Kane,  Dr.,  acquaintance  of  Lee,  172 
Kelly,  Maj.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  219 
Kirkpatrick,  Dr.  J.  L.,  professor  of 
philosophy,  59;  and  Lee,  194 

Lacy,  Rev.  B.  T.,  interview  with 
Lee,  183-184 

Leary,  W.  B.,  Lee's  teacher,  162  n. 

Lee,  Agnes,  109,  118,  120,  121 

Lee,  Mrs.  Edwin  G.,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  234 

Lee,  Charles  Carter,  161  n. 

Lee,  Gen.  Fitzhugh,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 

Lee,  Gen.  G.  W.  Custis,  116,  150, 
207,  210,  229  n. 

Lee,  Gen.  Henry  ("Light  Horse 
Harry"),  R.  E.  Lee's  biography 
of,  161,  167;  burial  place,  229  n. 

Lee,  Mrs.  Julia  Carter,  burial,  229  n. 

Lee,  Mary  C.,  daughter,  1-2,  229  n. 

Lee,  Mary  Custis,  wife  of  Gen.  Lee, 
illness  of,  44,  171;  reminiscences 
concerning,  91,  96,  108,  109,  no, 

118,  154,    176;  literary  interests, 
168  n.;  and  Lee  statue,  226;  burial 
place,  229 

Lee,  Mildred,  49,  52,  63,  73,  109, 
121,  160;  cited,  75-76;  illness  of, 
172;  burial,  229  n. 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  as  college  president, 
1-145  passim;  191,  199-201,  203- 
205,  223-225;  letters  cited,  7-8, 
87>  92,  93>  94>  I58-I59>  161,  162- 
163,  167,  169,  170,  171,  175,  176, 
189-191,  192,  201;  death  of,  9,  118, 

119,  123,  128,  131,  140-141,  148, 
206-213;    on    character,    18,    19; 
on  education,   20;  at  Lexington, 
22-31;   attitude  toward   religion, 
25;  attitude  toward  temperance, 
25;  on  industry,  25;  and  literary 


societies,  26;  illness  of,  30-31,  175, 
176,  195,  206,  207,  209-211;  statue 
of,  58,  224,  226-236;  as  dis 
ciplinarian,  60-61,  71,  73,  84-86, 
106,  110-114,  Il8>  121,  124,  129, 
134;  description  and  characteris 
tics,  78-79,  198;  at  Fredericks- 
burg,  79;  in  Mexican  War,  79,  80, 
150;  at  trial  of  Davis,  96-97; 
Christian  character,  98-101,  182- 
195;  confirmation  of,  99;  on  re 
construction,  102;  poem  addressed 
to,  104-105;  averts  lynching,  129- 
130;  and  the  making  of  his  statue, 
146-156;  on  the  test  of  a  true 
gentleman,  155;  Stiles's  Four 
Years  with  Marse  Robert,  155; 
before  reconstruction  committee, 
157,  166;  what  he  read  after  the 
war,  157-181;  literary  efforts, 
160-161,  165  n.;  private  library, 
164;  favorite  books,  177;  and  the 
Bible,  177-179,  188-189;  order 
concerning  fasting  and  prayer, 
188;  funeral,  213-222;  office  at 
Washington  College,  223-224, 
229;  mausoleum,  226-236;  on 
secession,  237-241;  letter  to  Lord 
Acton,  237-241;  on  slavery,  241; 
see  also  Traveller;  Washington 
College 

Lee,  Capt.  Robert  E.  (son),  on  Lee 
as  college  president,  5-11;  cited, 
163,  164,  170,  171;  at  father's 
funeral,  217;  burial,  229  n.;  at 
Lee  exercises,  232 

Lee,  Mrs.  S.  P.,  cited,  93  n. 

Lee,  Gen.  W.  H.  F.,  war  operations, 
169;  letter  to,  175;  at  father's 
funeral,  217;  at  Lee  exercises, 
232 

Lee  family,  burial  place,  229  n. 


INDEX 


247 


Lee  Memorial  Association,  226,  228, 

229 

Lee  Memorial  Chapel,  64 
Leech,  J.  M.,  secretary  of  faculty, 

125 

Letcher,  Gov.  John,  home  of,  23; 
recollections  of,  44-45,  131;  and 
Lee  statue,  227 

Letcher,  Lizzie,  44-45 

Lewis,  negro  janitor,  126 

Lexington,  Va.,  Lee  at,  22-31; 
churches,  62;  attitude  toward 
Lee,  135;  Lee's  letter  to  ministers 
of,  192;  see  also  Washington 
College 

Leyburn,  Rev.  Dr.,  meeting  with 
Lee,  97 

Liberty  Hall  Academy,  aft.  Wash 
ington  College,  6 

Lilly,  Gen.  R.  D.,  and  Lee's  mau 
soleum,  228  at  Lee  exercises,  232 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  assassination  of, 
98 

Lockett,  J.  W.,  at  Washington  Col 
lege,  59 

Long,  Prof.  George,  book  sent  to 
Lee,  163 

Louisiana,  New  England  and  pur 
chase  of,  239 

Lyle,  Prof.,  of  Washington  College, 
126 

McCleary,  J.  Harvey,  in 
McClellan,  Prof.  R.  M.,  of  Macon, 

60 
McCluer,  J.  Parry,  recollections  of 

Lee,  122 
McCormick,  Cyrus  H.,  invitation  to 

Lee,  97 
McCown,    James    H.,    recollections 

of  Lee,  122-123 
McCrea, ,  lecture  by,  50 


McEIwee,  Rev.  William,  of  Lexing 
ton,  121 

McLaughlin,  Col.,  trustee  of  Wash 
ington  College,  3 

Madison,  Dr.  R.  L.,  Lee's  physician, 
209,  210,  221 

Marshall,    Chief-Justice   John,    208 

Martin,  J.  W.,  227 

Martin,  John,  64 

Maryland  Line,  at  Lee  exercises, 
232,  233 

Massie,  Prof.,  of  Washington  Col* 
lege,  124 

Maury,  Col.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  218 

Maury,  Commodore  Matthew,  F., 
at  Lexington,  23;  cited,  148 

Mason,  George,  ancestors,  173 

Massachusetts,    constitution    cited, 

239 
Meade,  Gen.  George  G.,  at  Mine 

Run,  185 

Meade,  Bishop  W.,  208 
Mercer,  Dr.,  library,  166 
Mexican  War,  Lee  in,  79,  80,  150 
Miley,  photographer,  57 
Mine  Run,  Lee  at,  185 

Neilson,    J.    Crawford,    mausoleum 

designed  by,  228,  229 
Nelson,     Prof.    Alexander    L.,     of 
Washington  College,  1-4,  126,  144 
New  York  Herald,  on  inauguration 
of  Lee  as  college  president,  12-15 
New  York  Times,  157 
Newspapers,  read  by  Lee,  157 
Norris,  Col.  William,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 

O'Farrell,  Col.  Charles  T.,  of  Lex 
ington,  112 

Old  Sweet  Springs,  Lee  family  at,  169 
Outlook,  quoted,  146 


248 


INDEX 


Palmer,  Col.  W.  H.,  at  Lee's  exer 
cises,  232 

Parrott,  ,  student  at  Wash 
ington  College,  33 

Pendleton,  Col.  E.,  at  Lee's  funeral, 
219 

Pendleton,  Rev.  Gen.  William  N., 
relations  with  Lee,  5  n.-6  n.,  73; 
home  of,  23,  62;  at  Lee's  funeral, 
216,  217,  212 

Perry,  Thomas  L.,  jailer,  29 

Peters,  George  B.,  61,  64 

Petersburg,  Lee  at,  185,  186 

Peyton,  Col.  H.  E.,  at  Lee  exercises, 
232 

Pickett,  Mrs.  George  E.,  at  Lee 
exercises,  232 

Pitt,  R.  H.,  227 

Poague,  Col.  William  T.,  at  Lee 
exercises,  235 

Pollard,  Lost  Cause,  159 

Ponder,  John  F.,  recollections  of 
Lee,  123-125 

Powers,  John,  at  Washington  Col 
lege,  59 

Pratt,  Miss  Grace,  62 

Pratt,  Rev.  H.  Waddell,  Presby 
terian  pastor,  62 

Pratt,  Dr.  John,  Presbyterian  pastor, 
62 

Preston,  Col.  J.  T.  L.,  incident  con 
cerning,  21 

Preston,  Mrs.  Margaret  J.,  motto 
by,  233 

Randolph,  Gen.  George  W.,  death 

of,  190 
Reed,  William  B.,  letter  from  Lee, 

167 
Rees,  Albert  L.,  recollections  of  Lee, 

121 
Rees,  Mildred  Lee,  121 


Reid,  Col.,  Lee  at  home  of,  10-11 
Richmond  College,  and  Lee's  statue, 

227 

Riddick,  W.  L.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  219 
Riley,  Franklin  L.,  on  Lee's  reading 

after  the  War,  157-181 
Roanoke    College,    Salem,   Va.,   40 
Robinson,  Graham,  recollections  of 

Lee,  117-118 
Robinson,  Leigh,  at  Lee  exercises, 

232 

Rockbridge  Artillery,  235 
Rockbridge   Baths,   Lee  family  at, 

69,  70,  1 68,  175 
Rockbridge  County   Bible   Society, 

Lee's  interest  in,  28,  178,  188 
Rogers,  Dr.  C.,  letter  from  Lee,  60 
Rogers,  Maj.  E.  L.,   at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 
Rogers,   J.   Frank,   at  Washington 

College,  59 
Rogers,  Richard  W.,  reminiscences 

of  Lee,  59-64 
Rogers,     Dr.     Samuel,     Methodist 

rector,  62 

Ross,  Col.,  and  Lee,  81 
Ruff,  Col.,  cited,  67 
Ruffner,  ,  superintendent  of 

schools,  Va.,  41 
Ruffner,  Dr.,  farm  of,  120 
Ryan,    Father   Abram    J.,    at    Lee 

exercises,  232,  235 

Scott,    Gen.    Winfield,    opinion    o^ 

Lee,  75 

Secession,  Lee  and,  237-241 
Senseney, ,  blacksmith,  cited, 

68  n. 
Seven  Weeks'  War,  Lee's  comment 

on,  157 
Shields,     ,     of    Washington 

College,  89 


INDEX 


249 


Slaughter,  Prof.  R.  A.,  of  Macon,  60 

Slavery,  Lee  and,  241 

Smith,  Gen.  Francis  H.,  superin 
tendent  V.  M.  I.,  23,  35 

Smith,  H.  C.,  227 

Smith,  Dr.  Henry  L.,  on  Lee  as  an 
educator,  203-205 

Smith,  Gov.  William,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  233 

Snyder,  F.  J.,  student,  46 

Somerville,  Dr.  T.  H.,  recollections 
of  Lee,  112-113 

"  Sons  of  Confucius,"  college  society, 
61,  no 

South,  University  of  the,  Sewanee, 
Tenn.,  5,  9 

Southern  Review,  159 

Staunton,  Va.,  delegation  at  Lee's 
funeral,  220 

Stern,  Jo  Lane,  recollections  of  Lee, 
120 

Steuart,  Gen.  George  H.,  at  Lee 
exercises,  232,  233 

Stiles,  Maj.  Robert,  Four  Years  with 
Marse  Robert,  cited,  155 

Stonewall  Brigade,  at  Lee  mauso 
leum,  232 

Stuart,  Mrs.  J.  E.  B.,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 

Talcott,  Col.  T.  M.  R.,  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 

Taylor,  Col.  W.  H.,  recollections  of 
Lee,  125-128;  at  Lee's  funeral, 
219,  221 

Terry,  Gen.  William  at  Lee  exer 
cises,  232 

Thornhill,  J.  T.  E.,  227 

Toombs,  Robert,  attitude  toward 
compromise,  240 

Traveller,  Lee's  war  horse,  4,  10,  22, 
49>  63,  67,  68,  69,  73-74,  76,  8 1, 


92,  93,  94,  106,  109,  112,  114-115, 
116,  120,  125,  127,  134,  136,  141, 
171,  176,  204,  210,  216,  218,  220 

Tucker,  John  Randolph,  at  Lexing 
ton,  23 

Turner,  Z.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  219 

Turpin,  W.  M.,  227 

Tyler,  Judge  D.  Gardiner,  recollec 
tions  of  Lee,  128-131;  at  Lee 
exercises,  232 

Valentine,     Edward     V.,     reminis 
cences  of  Lee,  146-156;  statue  of 
Lee  by,  222,  224,  226-227,  229, 
236 
Valentine,  Sarah  B.,  lines  on  Lee's 

statue,  156 

Valley  Railroad,  Lee  as  president,  28 
Van  Meter,  John  S.,  student,  118 
Venable,  Col.  C.  S.,  at  Lee's  funeral, 

221 
Viley,  Willa,   recollections   of    Lee, 

I20-I2I 

Virginia,  Cavalier  element  in,  173; 

committee  of  legislature  at  Lee's 

funeral,  219-220 
Virginia,  University  of,  5,  37,  43, 

47,  48,  58 
Virginia      Education      Association, 

meeting,  175 

Virginia  Historical  Society,  50 
Virginia  Military  Institute,  21,  23; 

library  destroyed,  164  n.;  religious 

revival  in,  194;  and  Lee's  funeral, 

216,    218,    219,    220;    Stonewall 

Jackson  at,  235 

Waddell,  Misses,  of  Lexington,  113 
Waddell,    Edmonia,    at    grave    of 

Jackson,  233 

Wake  Forest  Student,c\ttd,  34,37, 182 
Walker,  George,  at  Lee's  funeral,  219 


250 


INDEX 


Warm  Springs,  Lee  family  at,   172 

Washington,  George,  endowment  to 

Washington  College,  6;  ancestors, 

173 

Washington  and  Lee  University, 
24;  centennial  of  Lee's  birth,  196; 
Lee  exercises  at,  234-236;  see  also 
Washington  College, 

Washington  College,  Lexington,  Va., 
Lee  as  president,  1-145  passim, 
191,  199-201,  203-205,  223-225; 
early  history,  6,  7  n.;  faculty  of, 
23,  38,  39  "•>  55~56»  see  also 
names  of  members;  students,  38, 
39  n.,  45,  59;  ex-soldiers  at,  136; 
library,  164,  169-176,  180-181; 
Lee's  burial  at,  215-222;  Lee's 
office  at,  223-224,  229;  see  also 
Washington  and  Lee  University 

Washington  Literary  Society,  61 

Washington  Star,  157 

Watchman,  157 

Webb,  Rev.  Frank  B.,  recollections 
of  Lee,  108-109 

Weir, ,  teacher  at  West  Point, 

ISO 

West  Point  Military  Academy,  88 

White,  Dr.,  at  Lee's  funeral,  217 

White,  Prof.  James  J.,  professor  in 
Washington  College,  6  n.;  cited, 


10,   11,   118,   144,  149;  and  Lee, 

153;  at  Lee's  funeral,  215 
White,  Dr.  Reid,  cited,  66  n. 
White,  Rev.  Dr.  W.  S.,  prayer  at 

Lee's   installation,    13;   and   Lee, 

193,  195 

White,  Justice  William,  oath  ad 
ministered  to  Lee,  14 

White  Sulphur  Springs,  Lee  family 
at,  169,  176 

Williams,  John  J.,  at  Lee  exercises, 
232 

Wilmer,  Bishop,  R.  H.,  address  on 
Lee's  death,  9 

Wills,   Dr.  David,  of  Macon,  Ga., 

59 
Wilson,    David   J.,   recollections   of 

Lee,  132-135 
Winchester,    Rt.    Rev.    James    R., 

recollections  of  Lee,  113-116 
Wolseley,  Lord,  visit  with  Lee,  71-72 
Womeldorf,  ,  wood  supplied 

by,  87 

Woodward,  S.  S.,  227 
Worsley,  Philip  Stanhope,  poem  to 

Lee,  104-105;  translation  of  Iliad 

presented  to  Lee,  162 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
Lee's  interest  in — 25 


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